The Flaming Forest
by Beast Boy779
Summary: AU. Takes Place somewhere in the six months before going to camp Jupiter. A beast is attacking the camp and 3 demigods are chosen to find & slay it. A budding relationship between Abram Z. (OC) and Leo V. Rate M for language and Sex in future chapters. (Heavy Leo and OC. Jason is in it but wont be focused on as much. Trying to stay close to how the books are. Long chapters & POVs
1. I Abram

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from The Heroes of Olympus Series or the things that are referenced. I do have some OCs in here. This story is for entertainment only! No profit is being made.**

**Setting: AU. Takes Place right after The Lost Hero, during the first two months of the six months before going to camp Jupiter. A beast is attacking the camp and 3 demigods are chosen to find & slay it. A budding relationship between Abram Z. (OC) and Leo V. Rate M for language and (possible) Sex in future chapters. (Heavy Leo and OC. Jason is in it but wont be focused on as much. Trying to stay close to how the books are. Long chapters & POVs**

**(No Romance in this chapter sorry, but trust me it will come later in a few chapters once they start their quest/mission.)**

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I

**Abram**

**Even before almost being burned alive in the middle of this dark forest,** Abram knew this day was going to get worse.

This morning he awoke to screaming and the sounds of battle throughout the camp. Even though it would still be a few hours for the sun to rise, when he looked out the window near his bed in cabin seven it seemed like it was daytime. He quickly rushed out of the cabin not having time to change. He was wearing his raccoon pajamas, and yes it was a onesie. The character itself was from a T.V show he used to watch as a kid. On his way out he grabbed his quiver full of arrows and his bow that he always kept by his bed.

An orange glow filled the camp as scattered fires were burning trees and working their way down to some of the cabins. _There is the trouble, but what and where did it come from? _he thought to himself.

"Quick get those fires out!" Some camp members were yelling over each other trying to get some order through the chaos. Abram scanned the area looking for a place to start. Being half-awake didn't really help him. "The one time Percy isn't here" he mumbled under his breath. "But I guess it's not his fault he is at that _other camp_." Percy Jackson was the Son of Poseidon, so he naturally had the ability to control water. Something that sounded like tanks roaring into camp could be heard which caused Abram to jerk his head to look for attackers, but instead he saw a group of kids carrying big machines on their back that looked like they came out of Ghost Busters or something.

"Alpha Squad form up on me!" Yelled a voice as a group of campers marched into the middle of the chaos. "Delta squad form ranks over there! Ready . . . NOW!" The mechanical sound of gears whirling echoed off the walls of the surrounding cabins as a foaming liquid shot from the nozzles that the group held in their hands. The fires immediately extinguished as the cool foam touched them. _Glorified fire extinguishers. Cabin nine, I swear nothing is simple there._ He thought to himself.

The source giving out the orders looked like a Latino Santa's elf, with dark curly hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and, even in this chaos a mischievous smile that told you right away that he should not be trusted around matches or sharp objects. The faint glow coming from the, now not so many, fires added such an effect on him that made him look stunning. _Wait, did I just call him stunning? What is wrong with me? _ Abram thought to himself. He quickly shook away the shock and tried to get his mind off of whatever came over him. "Hey Leo, you guys sure are organized at taking these fires out! Things must catch on fire more then everyone knows over there at Cabin nine!"

"Well, you know, I'm usually the one that starts them. Maybe instead of standing there admiring me you should help out!" Leo replied with his signature smirk.

"I would, but it looks like you guys put all of them out already."

"huh? Oh, I guess we did," He said as he let out a happy whoop. "We're just that good. Wait, are you wearing a Raccoon onesie?" Leo asked. Abram's face turned to a deep shade of red from embarrassment.

"Y -Yes." Abram said reluctantly. "It's from a T.V show."

"What show? It looks really familiar, anyways don't get all embarrassed. They look really cu-"

Their conversation was cut short as piercing roar could be heard in the distance. "That doesn't sound like the puppy I always wanted." Leo said as he took of his goggles and looked towards the forest where the sound came from.

"Uhh Leo, that was more than one monster..." Abram replied.

"Oh, think that maybe they want some of my Tofu Burgers?" He joked as he started to pull a spatula from his tool belt.

"More like a Leo Burger." Abram muttered under his breath.

The camp was once again claimed by the darkness of the night as the last fire was put out by one of Leo's cabin-mates. "So did anyone see what set all these fires in the first place?" Abram said as all the campers gathered towards the center of the courtyard.

"Well judging by the footprints on the ground it had to be something huge." A voice said somewhere in the group of kids. The voice sounded familiar to Abram and he had to squint through the darkness to try to see who it came from. _Is it him?_ He asked silently in his head. The figure pushed though the group and knelt closer to the indentions on the ground and traced his fingers over them. The sounds of hooves could be heard rumbling in the distance, Abram quickly turned around already guessing who it was, but instead of seeing him off in the distance the centaur was standing right behind him almost knocking him off his feet from shock.

"What happened here?" The centaur boomed in a powerful voice filled with concern. By this time torches had been lit to give light to the area reveling the camp director Chiron. The top half of his body looked like a middle-aged guy with thinning brown hair, bushy eyebrows, intense brown eyes and a scruffy beard. From the waist down he was a white centaur.

"Chiron, the camp has just been attacked." The guy said speaking for the group. With the light of the torches, and being taller than the rest of the campers he was able to be spotted quickly, and with the light from the torches Abram could see it was him. It was Jason Grace. He has an athletic body muscular and tanned arms, shaggy blond hair and electric blue eyes. He has a small scar on the corner of his lips. Abram wasn't that close to him to ask him about the story behind that. He had a tattoo on his arm which has the picture of an eagle with SPQR and twelve lines, indicating he has been at the _other camp_, Camp Jupiter, since he was three or four years old. His golden Gladius hung on his belt by his right side.

"Attacked, by what?" The centaur asked with a puzzled look. It was rare that the camp was attacked due to a magical barrier that protected them.

"I . . . I don't know. I didn't see it". Jason replied with a tone of disappointment in his voice.

"Did anybody see it?" Chiron asked the whole camp. His voice now louder than it was when he was talking to Jason. Muttering and a series of _I didn't_ echoed throughout the courtyard. "Right then, it seems though the danger is over . . . for now. Any volunteers for cleanup?". A few hands went up in the air including Abram's Jason's and Leo's. "Then that's settled. Everyone else back to sleep! You still have a few hours until sunrise."

"Hey Nyssa, could you take this back?" Leo asked stopping one of his cabin-mates as he took off the device he was wearing.

"Yeah, no problem." She replied before quickly walking away.

The herd of campers started to thin until there was only seven people left. "Alright, clean-up crew!" Leo shouted getting a loud _SHUSH_ from everyone else. "Hey, I doubt anyone else is going to sleep after what happened here. He said as he extended his arms and spun in a circle slowly gesturing to the mess around them. A group of kids had gotten brooms and cleaning equipment out from a nearby shed and had given Jason some extra brooms for his group.

"Leo the dim witted janitor. That sort of has a ring to it doesn't it?" Jason chuckled as he tossed a broom at Leo.

"It does doesn't." Leo replied as he started playing air guitar with his broom.

"Lay off Jason. I mean he did just save the camp." Abram said a little coldly although he didn't mean for it to come off that way. "Sorry, it's just so early. . . I just . . . _lo . . . love_ my sleep." He managed to get out through a yawn.

"Leo, The hero of Camp half blood! Maybe I will get a holiday here or something." The tone of his voice seemed like he was convinced it could happen. Jason placed both of his hands on top of the tip of his broom. He gently rested his head on them and looked at Leo like he was an idiot. "I still think dim witted janitor sounds better" He finally said hoping to break Leo out of his trance. It was weird to see Jason so cheerful. He was usually kind of intimidating to people. Abram quickly picked up on the vibe that came off from both of them. It felt like they were as close as two brothers. How he wished he had more bonds that strong with others here at camp. Abram never really got along with anyone here. He considered himself to be a loner. He didn't really talk much to anyone except his cabin-mates and as impossible as it may seem, another demigod, that was his best friend since they were both little. They became fast friends and found out together, after being friends for years, that they were both demigods. Her name was Klarissa, or to Abram, Klari. She wasn't at camp at the moment because she was on her own quest. Abram couldn't help but to be jealous of her. Even though they both arrived at camp together, she was chosen for quest before he was.

"You guys have done more heroic things and been through a lot worse than this, but they still haven't given you your own holiday yet." Abram said as he picked up some debris from a nearby cabin and tossed it into a pile they were making in the middle of the courtyard.

"Yeah, I guess you are right." By this time Leo had stopped playing air guitar and started to sweep up lose nails and small pieces of wood towards the pile.

There was a long silence and after thinking about Leo's reaction Abram regretting saying anything. "Hey, maybe there's a quota and this was the last thing you had to do." He spoke breaking the silence. Leo shot him a smile which made him feel a lot better. "So why did you two volunteer to help clean up?" Abram asked as he threw some more wood on the pile.

"Well I couldn't sleep so I said why not. Gives me something to do." Leo stated as he used his broom as a pole to lean on.

"I would have to say the same thing. Piper's been acting a little weird so I think some time away would be best for both of us." Jason added as he came closer to us.

"How does you helping us give you guys space, if both of you should be asleep." Abram questioned.

"Well I figured staying up more would let me sleep in more." Jason shrugged as he threw in his share of debris onto the pile. Piper and Jason gave off the vibe that there had been dating for a while now. It was rare to ever see them apart from each other. There was hardly any single people in the camp now. The titans had been defeated and if it was true that Gaea was waking, people just thought time was short for everyone and being alone wasn't an option.

"So is it official yet?" Leo asked as he jumped off a rock and landed near Jason. Jason turned away from them and started walking towards the shed to put his equipment up. Leo and Abram both shoot each other a confused look before following him. The shed was located far enough that the light almost didn't reach the spot they were heading to which added that much more of a dramatic feeling. Perfect for the direction their conversation was going.

"It's . . complicated," Jason finally let out. "I feel like I shouldn't make things official just yet, but at the same time I can't imagine being without her. I like her way to much to break her heart, and with my memories still coming back I feel -"

"Like there is someone else from your old camp." Abram interrupted. "Someone you think you might have a past with." Jason shot him a look as if he was saying _how did you know that?_. "Just guessing." Abram said answering Jason's questioning look throwing his equipment in the shed behind Jason.

"You should probably tell her that bro," Leo muttered as he threw his broom in the shed. "That way she won't think you are cheating on her, or leading her on, or something like that.".

"Hey guys?" Abram called out as he walked away from the others looking at the ground. "That trail from the camp continues here.". He knelt down and traced the side of a giant footprint in the ground before standing back up and turning to the other two. "What do you say we go see what attacked us? Y'know since we are already up."

Jason and Leo looked at each then back towards Abram. "Isn't that against the rules?" Jason asked

"Since when did we follow them in the first place?" Leo grinned.

"Looks like it's the wilderness school all over again." Jason chuckled

"Substitute one." Leo added as he pointed at Abram.

"Welp, let's go. Who wants to lead?" Abram asked rubbing the back of his head trying averting his gaze from them. His face was starting to turn red. He had just realized this would be his first time being around Leo and Jason outside of combat training, or camp games. Even though they were around his age, hearing about their quest just made them more intimidating. Even in the dark he was sure they would see how nervous he was, he just hoped they wouldn't pick up on how inexperienced he was at leading.

"Since you spotted these tracks why don't you lead." Jason answered as he reassuringly patted Abram on his arm.

"Yeah . . .sure," he muttered "before someone sees us."

As if on cue a group of kids walked up behind them and asked what they were doing. Jason and Leo looked at each other as if they were trying to agree on an excuse through random noises that were probably words. "We're on guard duty." Abram lied interrupting Leo and Jason's stammering. "We thought it would be safe if we took the first watch after this attack. In-case whatever it is decides to come back." He may not have been a child of Aphrodite, but he sure sounded like he was using charmspeak. Even Leo and Jason bought the excuse for a second before remembering what they were really doing. The group of kids seemed to have bought it since they stopped questioning them, turned around, and left.

"Wow, that was quick thinking." Jason said.

"Yeah man, how did you come up with that so fast?" Leo asked with a crooked eyebrow. Abram felt himself blush from Leo's actions.

"Used to it I guess. Me and Klari used to sneak out into the woods a lot of times just to get away for awhile. Now c'mon before they come back asking for a shift schedule or something."

_ Why did I blush at that?_ Abram thought to himself as he pushed branches out of the way eyes still fixed on the ground following the tracks. _Get it together Abram. You need to stay focused out here in the forest. It's too dangerous to get distracted. He probably doesn't-_ "Whoa!" He yelped being literally pulled out from his thoughts. If it wasn't for Jason pulling him back he would have fallen into a deep ditch, and probably would have broken some bones on the way down. "Thanks." He said as he looked down.

"No problem," Jason answered as he let go of him. "You, okay? Something wrong?

"No, no . . . just stuck in my own head over thinking like always. Abram muttered.

"You do that too?" Leo chimed in making himself visible from behind Jason. Abram quickly read his face and could tell being behind Jason was bothering him. Probably some mixed emotions thrown in there as well. Abram would have asked him if something was bothering him if Jason wasn't here. Abram's guessed it had to be something about Jason. "I thought I was the only one that did that." Leo continued.

"Well, you aren't. I usually spend more time talking in my own head then out loud. I guess just afraid of people's reaction."

"No need to be like that with us." Leo said as he wrapped an arm around Jason. "We're all happy thoughts and good feelings here." He grinned.

"Yeah, it would be nice if we knew a little bit more about you." Jason added.

"Well I'm an open book." Abram replied. "All you guys have to do is ask, and why don't you take the lead from here on out Jason. He nodded and took point leading the group along the trench looking for a way across.

"Well, not to be rude or anything, but who is your big-shot parent? I mean you don't exactly give a hint right away." Leo asked falling in line with Abram behind Jason. Even though they were walking in the dark, the moonlit bounced off of what look like metal wires in Leo's hand. _Child of Hephaestus all right._ He thought smiling to himself. _Can't keep his hands still._

"Apollo is my dad," Abram answered. "Born and raised in Texas though."

"Really!? I'm from Texas too!. Leo chimed in.

"¿No es broma? Err I mean no kidding?" Abram quickly changed his language back to English. He talked in Spanish sometimes when her got excited or startled. Leo's eyes widened as he rush to Abram's side and turned him towards himself.

"Por fin alguien con quien hablar en español!" Leo cried with excitement. "I mean don't get me wrong we don't have to do it all the time, but damn it makes me feel better that I know someone else that speaks Spanish, and most likely shares my heritage."

"Yeah, nice to know we have some stuff in common already." Abram managed to get out after coming out of the sudden shock Leo gave him.

**CRACK!**

A loud sound made them both jump as they looked for an explanation to what startled them.

"Didn't mean to ruin your moment guys, but I found a way over." Jason stated as he put a leg on a recently uprooted tree that now laid across the ditch. The base of the tree still had its roots buried in loose dirt.

"More like made a way over." Leo said. "C'mon. He is just jealous because you have more stuff in common with me than him." Leo wrapped an arm around Abram and led him towards the tree quickly shooting Jason a look as if saying _Tough Luck, we just click_.

"So, is it true Leo? Do you really have the power over fire? Abram asked him.

Leo replied with a short Laugh "Yeah, watch this!" Leo brought his hand up and opened his fist. A small flame came to life on his finger tips and then started to dance across his palm. Abram knew he was curious and what he should have expected, but he still jumped a bit at the sight of the fire. "You alright?" Leo asked him as he closed his hand making the fire disappear.

"Yeah, ju-just didn't think the rumors were true." Abram replied. He knew he had taken too much time to say something. Leo was giving him a look that read he wasn't buying Abram's excuse.

"What about you? Do you have any powers?"

"Me? No, well I mean not special powers like your fire. All children of Apollo have powers. We get more energy from being in the sun. We all have the power to heal if we sing a hymn to our father in Ancient Greek. We are also great marksmen, but I don't think that would count as a power. I can say I am one of the better ones from Apollo cabin though." Abram said smiling with confidence at his last sentence.

"Getting a little cocky there?" Jason said.

"Nope. I'll prove it once we get back to camp." Abram replied.

"Five drachmas says you can't notch more than three arrows at a time." Leo said.  
"Just three? Fine you're on" Abram replied with a wide grin.

"Right Now." Leo said as he nudged Abram's shoulder.

"Hmm Hmm." Abram replied with a series of little cocky huffs. "Better save on some time and get the money out then." Leo reached into his pocket and pulled out 5 small gold coins. On one side they were imprinted with the likeness of Zeus, on the other they had the Empire State Building on it.

"That sound you made. it seems familiar." Leo said squinting his eyes as he tried to place the origin or the sound.

"It's from a show I used to watch as a kid. I think it was called Regular Show."

"The one with the Blue Jay and the Raccoon?!" Leo exclaimed.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Abram asked him.

"I used to watch that show all the time when I was a kid as well." Leo laughed. "That explains why these look familiar." He said as he tugged on Abram's pajamas. Abram shrugged his hand off.

"Name a target." Abram said as he notched four arrows.

"Those four trees over there." Jason and Leo said in unison.

"No problem." Abram replied as he kneeled down, took aim and released the bowstring. The arrows whistled as they broke the air.

**THUD!**.

They all hit their marks. The sound of the arrows hitting the trunks seem to all harmonize, and were in perfect line with each other. "Oh, children of Apollo are good musicians as well." Abram winked at Leo before sticking his hand out. Leo dropped the Drachmas into Abram's hand. His mouth hanging open in amazement. Jason was slightly behind him laughing louder than he should have.

"Hey!" A girl's voice yelled startling all three boys. Wood nymphs melted from the four trees. All four of them had an arrow in their hand. "You shouldn't do that. The trees have feelings you know." The one that spoke continued. She grasped the arrow with both hands and broke it over her knee several times, and threw the pieces at back at Abram. The other three dryads followed her example and threw them at Jason and Leo as well. Jason, Leo, and Abram where pelted with pieces of wood and arrow heads. They quickly ran away from the dryads continuing their hunt for the monster.

The group of boys talked and walked for what seemed like hours. The morning air was starting to get cold and damp. The mossy ground squished under their feet. The sun was starting to rise. _Well at least it easier to see things clearly now._ Abram thought to himself. The weather and temperature in Camp Half-Blood was controlled, but being November the weather was colder than when Leo, Jason, and Piper arrived.

"Uughhh how long have we been out here!" Leo whined. as he threw his head back and started to drag his feet. The ground below them was now mossy and damp.

"A little over an hour now." Abram said looking at the rising sun.

"And exactly how much longer do we plan on-"

"Shush" Jason interrupted him. "Do you guys hear something?" The three of them stopped their moving and shallowed their breathing to hear the surrounding area better. Abram took the time to finally notice the scenery. They were standing on a shore bank of a quite lake. A mountain toward the south that had what looked like a deep cave in it, but he didn't want to find out exactly what it was and if something lived there this early and so under-armed. Dangerous creatures lived in these woods, and it was a miracle they didn't run into any yet. A winding path came out of the cave and reached all the way to where they were standing. The mouth of the cave had a small waterfall with a stream filling the lake. The area was surrounded with hills, which made it feel like a valley with a lake in the middle. The lake itself was located near a small hill on that happened to be where the stream flowed down through. It made a small waterfall that was the perfect height for diving, bathing under, or just to relax and let the water hit you while the sun set. It was the perfect vacation spot from Camp Half-Blood. The only problem was that it felt eerily abandon. Like there was no one within miles of this place. No humans, no animals, not even any nymphs. _That's it!_ He thought to himself.

"There's no sound coming from anything. No birds, no bugs, not even the wind is blowing." He looked at Jason's and Leo's face and saw how scared that realization made them. He was sure that he had the same expression on his face.

"The Silence is killing me" Leo finally said. A faint thumping rumbled the earth, and at first Abram just thought it was the sound of his heart pounding from fear. The fact that the others started looking around quickly ruled out that possibility. The trees starting shaking violently enough that with each rumble a shower of leaves fell everywhere you could possibly look.

"I really miss the silence." Leo muttered. The three boys formed a huddle and were back to back . . . to back still trying to pinpoint the location of the threat. A piercing howl echoed throughout the hills and was loud enough to bring them to their knees covering their ears. Abram felt a nauseating pit in his stomach. It was the cry they heard earlier, which meant it was the same monster that attack the camp a few hours ago and caused all that damage. Now the three of them were about to find out what is was with one weapon each and a long ways away from anyone who could help them. Jason was the first out of the group to get it back together and stand up ready for battle. "Look out!" He yelled as he dodge rolled to the side away from Leo and Abram. Abram's ears were still ringing from the howl and he couldn't make out what he said.

"Yeah, I'm over here. You said call out right?" He questioned as he stood. He was still rubbing his right ear with his right hand. Leo had jumped out of the way to their left side and slide on the ground a bit.

"ABRAM!" Leo cried out.

"huh?" He managed to say as he looked forward. A ball of flames was flying towards him at an incredible speed like it had been shot out of a cannon. The sight of the flames brought back glimpses of a painful past that he tried to forget about. He couldn't bring his body to move in time to get away. He stood there frozen like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. He managed to bring his right arm in front of him as if he were holding an invisible shield just before the flames got to him. _What are you doing? You are ssssooooo dead!" _He thought to himself._ Great, my final thoughts are of me making fun of myself._ He clenched his eyes shut and was prepared to feel his skin burning away before waking up somewhere in the underworld. After what seemed like an eternity he finally opened his eyes. Instead of feeling extreme heat, he just felt his energy draining away and his body growing tired fast.

"Abram!" He heard Leo call out. "Holy shit dude, how are you doing that!".

"Doing what?" Abram grunted slightly turning his head to where he heard Leo's voice coming from. He found it difficult to get words out of his mouth. _Why do I feel like this?_ After questioning himself he quickly, well as fast as his body would let him, turned to the direction he remembered where the flames was coming from. In front of him floating mere inches away from his skin was a shield made of pure light. It was just large enough to block the fire from hitting him. His body had used all of his energy and his arm dropped to his side. The light shield had disappeared the moment his arm started to lower itself. Abram didn't even have enough strength to stand up and collapsed to the ground kneeling and gasping for air. Then he heard it: a scraping noise, like something large dragging its belly through the leaves. The rumble of the monster's footsteps finally stopped, but Abram knew it could have only meant danger for them. He gathered enough strength to look up and see what they were dealing with.

It stood towering over the height of all three boys combine. It looked like a dragon straight from the books Abram used to read when he was younger but with six too many heads. Each head was topped with a reptilian head. It was hissing, its front half writhing in all different directions. Its skin was leathery. Each head was diamond-shaped, like a rattlesnake's but the mouths were lined with jagged rows of shark-like teeth. Not far in front of them Abram saw Jason standing between them and the beast with his Gladius in his hand. Abram started to mutter something but couldn't find the strength to talk loud enough for Jason to hear.

"Whoa dude, don't try to exert yourself, we need you alive still." Leo said as he slid to Abram's side.

"L . . . Leo" He whispered.

"Yeah, man what is it?" Leo asked as he got closer to hear Abram better.

"Jason . . . Don't . . .blood . . ." He managed to get out pointing at the monster before everything started to zoom out as if he started to fall into a pit of blackness.

"Got it," Leo replied. "JASON! don't let that thing's blood-!". Was the last thing that Abram heard before darkness claimed him.

**Well, this is my first fanfiction that I have ever put out there, so please reviews are greatly GREATLY appreciated! Let me know if there is something I can do to improve this or if you have any questions. I know this didn't really have any romance in it but trust me it will come later in a few chapters once they start their quest/mission.**


	2. II Abram

**Sorry for the wait, but here it is, Chapter 2. I have been working on this story and I may be able to post a chapter next Saturday as well. It's short so I might be able to give you guys 2 chapters :3. As always, please review or pm me if you guys have any questions or comments. Looking forward to some feedback. Enjoy!**

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II

**Abram**

** Most people had dreams, demigods had vivid dreams. **Some of these dreams are so powerful and so clear that a demigod can't describe it with words. Dreams, are hardly ever just dreams. Demigods get messages, glimpses of things happening to their friends or enemies. Sometime even a glimpse of the past or future. This was one of those dreams, and Abram knew it.

His eyes shot open with the sound of an intercom blaring to life. He couldn't really make out what it said, but the voice said something with a tone that sounded like it was an emergency. Abram looked around to try to get a better picture of where he was. The white halls were lit by florescent lighting which didn't really feel welcoming or inviting. If it wasn't for the buzzing coming from the bulbs, that halls would be eerily silent. Well, even more so. Painted lines ran together across the floor under him. Farther down the hall some of them darted off around corners or behind doors. A legend was occasionally pinned to the wall explaining that the red lines lead to exits, blue lines led to the Doctors' Lounge, and the yellow lines led to a smokers' lounge. Doctors, guiding lines painted on the ground, and florescent lighting. He was in a hospital, but not just any hospital. No, the longer he stood there the more familiar it felt to him. This was the hospital where his mom worked.

Abram now knew why he was here. A cruel trick one of the gods must have been playing on him. It was the night that changed his life forever, and the gods were replying it over and over for him as a nightmare. He dreaded falling asleep now and days. It was always the same, nothing ever changed except how long it took for him to gather the courage and walk to his mother's lab. His mom spent so many hours at work to support them. Abram usually spent a lot of his time with her. She was a microbiologist. One of the three that worked here, so it wasn't a problem for Abram to be around while she worked. Though the years of being here she taught him how to take cultures on different kinds of viruses and how to use the equipment in the lab. He loved being able to help her around her work even though he wasn't supposed to. He learned a lot of other things from her as well, including what he wanted to be when he got older, but all that was just a memory now. He stood in the hallway, slapping his face muttering to himself "Wake up, this is just a dream. This isn't real. It isn't happening again!" He continued to do this for the next ten minutes. His face had finally gone numb and was red from being smacked. He finally took a step forward eyes still on the ground muttering to himself, "You can do this . . . no matter how much it hurts. You _can _do this."

He had walked this hall so many times that he didn't even need to look or think about where he was going, which made it worse. It gave him more time to think about what was to come from this night. He continued down the empty hall for the longest minute of his life. When he got to the door he took a deep breath and slowly grabbed the handle with his left hand. He punched in the code to unlock it on a keypad that was to the right of the door near the handle. A low click echoed throughout the hall behind him as the door unlocked. He pulled the door open and walked into the room. The lab looked like any ordinary lab you would see at a hospital. Beakers full of different colored liquids were lined up on the counters near the walls. The counters hugged the wall around most of the room with doors on the underside for more storage. To Abram it reminded him of their kitchen sink cabinets back home. Microscopes set up at different locations. One for each side of the room. A fume-hood in the center of the room, a chemical cabinet stood in the far corner of the room, and an incubator on the counter near the door he just entered.

"Is that you _Mijo_?" A woman's voice called out to him from a corner room.

"_Si_ ma!" Abram replied his eyes starting to tear up at the sound of her voice.

"What took you so long? It's getting late. The sun is setting..."

"Just stopped to get something to eat. It's Friday, you know pizza day." Abram said his voice starting to crack. He realized that he was holding a box of pizza that appeared from nowhere. He quickly pushed aside some beakers and moved some more equipment out the way so they could have a place to eat. It was much easier for him to do this now, because even though it was a memory, he remained in his older body. When the event actually happened he was ten. Needless to say, just trying to reach the counter was hard for him, let alone trying to move medical equipment.

"Be right out, just putting some things away." She said

"No rush ma!" Abram really hoped that she would listen to him this time, even though the dream was destroying him by the second, he was loving the sound of his mom's voice. Metal clanking and various sounds of bottles hitting against each other echoed throughout the room. If it wasn't for his mom being just on the other side of a wall Abram was sure he would be the only person on this floor of the hospital.

"All done!" His mother happily chimed as she entered the room. Abram couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. She had dark brown hair that hung to her shoulders. Her glasses where sitting on the top of her head. She was wearing a white scrub top with random colored lines running vertically on it. It looked like she was hit by some rain, but each water droplet left a different color streak. She was wearing a pair of regular blue jeans, that were faded from the countless cycles of washing to prevent bringing an epidemic home with her. She wasn't that tall and she walked with a limp due to her polio. She explained to him on more than one occasion when she was little her, her brothers, and her sisters would hide from the doctor when he came to her house to give them the vaccine. Eventually she got it but some damage had already been done to her left leg.

"Half supreme half hamburger!" Abram happily chimed as he took the napkins out. They were stuffed between the edges of the box. He placed one in front of himself and in front of his mom. The longer the dream went on, the more Abram forget it was a dream. Everything seemed so real. From the sound of the machines running in the background to the smell of his mom's perfume. Heck, he could even hear the radio she left on when she was alone. The song "Paint in Black" by the Rolling stones was playing at the moment. She loved to listen to the Rolling Stones. It was one of her favorite bands.

"How was school _Mijo_?" She said as she took a bite of her pizza.

"It was great. The field trip was today, and we went to the zoo." He replied with a mouthful of pizza. "I've never seen so many animals, I don't even think we saw them all."

His mom chuckled a bit, "Well _Mijo_ keep your grades up and I will take you at the end of the month. Just the two us."

"Really? You promise?"

"Of course, but you have to earn it."

"I will mama. I'll work really hard."

The buzzing of the door interrupted their conversation as one of his mother's co-workers entered the room.

"Hey Kris -oh hey Abram! How've you been little man?" The woman asked. She was wearing a long black cocktail dress. It wasn't anything too flashy, but it complemented her body well. She had dirty blonde hair which was shoulder length and very curly. Abram guessed if she would have straightened it, it would have easily gone down to the middle of her back. She was about the same age as Abram's mother, which meant she was somewhere in her late thirties.

"Hey Sonya." Both of them replied in unison.

"I've been good. I brought some pizza for dinner; do you want some Sonya?" He continued.

" Mmm sounds good. I would absolutely love a slice," She said as she put her purse down on the counter next to them. She walked over to the box of pizza and took a slice from the Supreme half. "Smells good too! Thanks, I'm starving." She said before taking a bite. "I'm going down to the Cafe, would you guys like anything to drink?"

"A Diet Coke please." Kris replied

"ummm a chocolate milk,?" Abram asked. Getting a displeased look from his mom.

"Please?" He quickly added. Making his mom smile again.

"Alright. Be back in a few." Sonya laughed, opening the door to head out.

"Oh wait, Sonya! Why are you dressed like that?" Abram's mom questioned.

"Oh, well I'm about to clock out and I have a date tonight." She replied giving them a smile and a wink as she walked out. Abram's mom just shook her head as she went back to eating her dinner with her son. Sonya came back after being gone for awhile but she didn't stay long. She left almost as quickly as she came. Abram and his mom were once again alone. They spent the next few minutes just eating in silence, enjoying each other's company, and occasionally bobbing their heads to the music. It was the perfect Friday night in Abram's book.

"Well it's getting late, you ready _Mijo_?" his mom asked him, cleaning up the mess they made.

"mhm" he replied wiping his face with napkin.

The familiar click of the door surprised both of them and made them jump. "Oh Grace it's you." His mom said with a sigh of relief. "What are you doing here? Didn't your shift end hours ago?"

"Hello Kristina." She said coldly and slowly almost like if someone had programmed her to say that. "Just forgot something here." She finished as she walked away from them. She had long straight black hair, and was wearing a scrub top with a floral pattern on it with pink scrub bottoms. She didn't really have a big body frame. To Abram she looked really frail, as if someone hugged her too hard they would break her in half. She looked older than his mom as well.

"Oh . . .well do you mind watching my son? I just need to use the bathroom really quick." Kristina asked. Grace's reaction seemed a little forced , but she nodded slowly. Abram had to do a double take because when his mom turned her back to Grace, he could have sworn Grace's eyes were a piercing gold. "I'll be back soon _Mijo_. I am just going down the hall. Wait for me here." Kristina said as she ruffled Abram's hair giving him a smile before going out the door. The last one he would ever get. He stood there waiting for his mom to come back. Usually he wouldn't mind, but something about Grace was giving him an uncomfortable feeling. He turned around and to his surprise she was standing right behind him with a blank look on her face.

She quickly pushed passed him and took off her ID badge. She swiped it on the locking device near the door and entered in another code. It was different than the code to get in. The sound of the lock was a lot louder than normal which made Abram even more distressed. She made her way to the chemical cabinet and started pulling different chemicals and placing them on the counter next to her. Abram knew something was wrong now. He quickly ran to the door and started pulling and kicking it, but it wouldn't open. He turned around to look at the deranged woman that was with him in the now locked room. She was quickly opening every bottle she had grabbed and was pouring the contents into a plastic storage tub that she had emptied on the floor next to her. Her mixture was started to release gas at an alarming rate. In seconds one fourth of the room was filled with it. Abram accidently inhaled some of the gas and started having a coughing fit.

He brought his left arm up to his face to cover his mouth with his sleeve. He knew if he didn't do something now he would suffocate. He looked around the room through teary eyes and spotted the fume-hood. He quickly ran to it and pressed the button to activate it to try and clear the air. He reached for the sliding door of the fume-hood but was knocked to the ground by a surprisingly fast Grace. He slid half-way across the room hitting his head on the underside of a counter.

"You cannot stop this Demigod." Grace spoke in a voice that sounded hoarse, like if she had spent the last two days yelling. She turned to the fume-hood and punched through it with incredible strength. She then proceeded to pull wires out along with the fans that made up the machine. She slowly walked back towards her mixture and started to laugh maniacally. Abram slowly picked himself off the floor as he grabbed his head. He heard a faint pounding but wasn't sure if he was really hearing it or if it was just his head throbbing from pain. It kept getting louder and more frantic. He was able to locate the door and see his mom pounding away trying to break it down from the outside. Abram ran to the door and started to copy what she was doing on his side.

"_MIJO!_ ABRAM!" She tried to yell through the door. "What's going on in there?!" Abram could barely hear her. The thickness of the door muffled any sound trying to come in or go out. She quickly took out her cellphone and dialed away with fast fingers. Although her speech was muffled Abram could make out that she called the police and then the hospital security.

"She cannot help you now, it's too late" The raspy voice said grasping Abram's attention. He reluctantly turned to Grace not wanting to see what else she was planning. She gave him a very disturbing smile as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial of a swirling green liquid. The vial was no bigger than his pinky. She dropped it into her mixture still laughing. Abram had no idea what was in that vial. It wasn't like any chemical he had seen in his life. He felt alone, and defeated. He ran to the closest corner and curled up into a ball on the ground. He had no idea what was going to happen, but the way Grace was acting it was about to get much worse. He brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

He started to cry frantically as he realized there was nothing left that he could do. He wished his mom was in the room with him and not standing on the opposite side of a wall. He wished for a miracle, anything that could save him and let him see the light of day just once more. He managed to look up as the bottle finally hit the bottom of the tub with a quick shattering sound. The instant the sound reached his ears, his eyes saw red from the explosion it released. Time seemed to slow as he sat there watching the flames consume everything in their path, including Grace. She continued to laugh as her clothes started to burn away followed by her skin exposing her muscles and tissues that laid underneath. Before the flames reached Abram, she was reduced to a smoldering pile of ash. A faint breeze filled the room, which was visible due to the smoke. It circled the room creating a small and slow moving vortex before bursting through the window and retreating into the night sky. Time went back to normal as the flames started to shoot out from the tub due to the chemicals mixing with whatever Grace had thrown in there.

There was an ear piercing pop prior to a wave of flames dashing towards Abram. He shut his eyes tight and threw both hands in front of him as if pushing on a wall. He stayed that way and counted to seven. Why seven? To this day, he doesn't even know why. He reluctantly opened his eyes to see himself encased in an egg of glowing golden light. It was the only thing protecting him from the flames. He could clearly see through the walls of his egg-shaped barrier. The roaring fire tried to consume the egg but the flames died as soon as they touched the barrier.

Abram looked past the approaching unending flames. The room was in total shambles. The wall where the window once was, was completely missing. Bricks laid scattered on the floor of the lab. There wasn't many of them due to the explosion throwing most of them out away from the building and into the parking lot below. There were missing ceiling tiles, and the ones that weren't missing were on fire. He turned to face the entrance of the lab. The wall had been completely burned down. Where his mom was supposed to be standing, he spotted a piece of what was once white clothing in the rubble. It was covered in ash and dust but he could clearly make out four lines running from top to bottom on the fabric. One blue, one green, one red, and the last yellow.  
"M . . . Mom?" Abram's heart pounded. "Mom!" He yelled. He finally lowered his hands making the egg disappear and tried to crawl to the rubble. He was able to move a foot away from his corner before losing consciousness.

"I made you forget about your powers young demigod, but I will _NOT_ let you forget her death." A voice said through the darkness. Her laughter echoing in his head.

"MOM!" Abram shouted as he shot up but quickly laid back down grabbing his side in pain.

"Whoa dude. So not your mom." A voice replied rushing to Abram's side.

"L . . .Leo? Abram asked still dazed from his pain. "Why are you here? Don't get me wrong, I mean I'm happy to see you. I really am . . ." Abram said taking the time to look at his surroundings. He now realized he was in the infirmary back at camp. He was laying in a bed towards the corner. It was the only one hit directly by the sunlight. Being a child of Apollo, being in sunlight naturally sped up his healing process as well as gave him more energy. Now being awake, having biokinesis wasn't so bad either.

"Well, I . . . I -I don't really know. I guess I just wanted to make sure you were alright." He blushed as he spoke. "Dude and that awesome power you have. Tell me about that!"

"Awesome power? The light? That really happened? Abram asked getting a nod from Leo as a response. "I thought it was just a dream. No one in Apollo's cabin has that power. I mean it hasn't been around. It's pretty much the equivalent to your fi -fire powers." Abram said struggling to get the word fire out.

"Oh, well even then, that is so cool!" Leo exclaimed.

"Is it? Abram asked him "Why do I have it? It could be a blessing. . . or It could be a curse."

Leo's face suddenly dropped. Something told Abram Leo knew a thing or two about curses. _Does he think his power is a curse?_ He thought to himself.

"Nah man, I had to learn that the hard way." Leo said with a smile back on his face. "Your power is a gift, and you will need to learn how to control it. We can do it together."

"Alright, but why would you help me though?" Abram asked.

"Because we're friends now. Just don't got blinding me or anything, kay?"

"You got yourself a deal Leo." Abram laughed as he sat up. He felt a lot better and was ready to get out of the infirmary. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and planted them on the ground. He stood up and started to stretch. He walked towards a table that had his quiver and bow, his choice of weapon. Dual swords being second choice, but he hardly carried them with him. "So what happened?" He finally asked, afraid of the answer.

"Oh . . . well," Leo started "As soon as you-"

"Oh good, you're up." someone said interrupting Leo. It startled Abram a bit and he jumped towards Leo and turned around to see who it was. "Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you." The voice laughed.

"Chiron, you can't scare me like that! The second time in the same day, geeze" Abram said trying to catch his breath. He noticed he was dangerously close to Leo, and he was pretty sure Leo was thinking the same thing. They both quickly took a few steps away from each other both of their faces now turning red. "Uhh yeah. All better. We were just about to head out."

"Good, I'll join you. Rumor around camp is that you two, along with Jason, decided to take a little walk in the woods this morning. Find anything _interesting? _" Chiron asked with his right eyebrow arched. Abram looked at Leo trying to decide whether or not he should say anything. Leo was looking down, trying to avert Abram's gaze. "No matter, I'll know more soon enough. The Senior Counsel is meeting before lunch. Abram, since you where there at the attack I would like for you to attend as well. If what Jason and Leo has told us is true, I am sure the head counselors would like to hear more about it for themselves." He patted Abram on the shoulder before looking at Leo. "Bring a very small amount of ambrosia. I feel we are going to need it." He turned to the door and left, leaving them alone.

"What does he mean, what you and Jason told him? Wasn't he talking about this morning's attack?" Abram asked looking at Leo.

"Well . . . We might have told one or two people about your powers, and about our little adventure." Leo grumbled not looking Abram in his eyes. He quickly found a ziploc bag and stuff some cubes of Ambrosia in it.

"So basically everyone already knows now? He asked.

"Yeah you could say that. But, so what! I don't really see what the problem is?".

"I don't know if you noticed, but I don't really have a lot of friends, and now I will probably have a lot of fake friends. If they are not real, they are not worth the time. I 'd rather not bother with them." Abram sulked pushing past Leo. "C'mon, we don't want to keep them waiting." He said stopping at the doorframe. He made it halfway through the hall but stopped, this time due to almost bumping in to someone. "Argus, I'm sorry I didn't see you!" He apologized a little shaky. He could never get used to seeing Argus. Argus looked like a typical blonde surfer, with the exception of his body completely covered in a hundred blue eyes. He never talked, but that be because he had an eye on the tip of his tongue. Each one of them locked on Abram. He let out a low grunt and walked past Abram to the infirmary.

"Whoa dude!" Abram Heard Leo scream from the room behind him. "Uhh sorry. Wasn't expecting to see you." He heard Leo's footsteps as he ran to catch up to Abram. "Can't seem to get used to the way that guy looks." Leo said.

"I know what you mean. I still get a little shocked when I see him." Abram replied. "Sorry Leo," Abram said getting a confused look from Leo. "About earlier? I was overreacting. I shouldn't take anything out on you. I mean you are the only one here to make sure I was okay. I'm grateful, Really I am. Means a lot to me dude."

"No problem bro," Leo began to say rubbing the back of his head. "Us cursed kids have to stay together." Abram was glad Leo was sticking by him. They didn't really talk, but Abram always wanted to. They knew of each other before today, but they never had a reason or the chance to talk. He always got so nervous being around Leo. Since the camp looked like it was in danger Abram jumped at the opportunity to try get some time with him. When their lives seem to be on the line, like early at the lake, he didn't have time to be nervous, which helped him a lot at being social.

They made their way up the stairs and around the corner to get to the Big House Rec Room. "Head Counselors first." Abram said as he moved out of the way and bowed with one hand gesturing to the door.

"If I'm going to get this kind of treatment every time you come to a meeting with me, I'm going to make sure you are always invited." Leo said as he turned the knob and pushed the door open.

"Yeah, that'll happen" Abram replied sarcastically as he followed Leo in. Most of the Head Counselors were already sitting down. They turned their heads and stared at them when they walked in, which made Abram much more uncomfortable. He knew most of these people outside of their role of Head Counselors, but being in a room with all of them while there were officially on the job made him feel a little inferior.

They were sitting around a ping-pong table which seemed a little silly to Abram, but so did the idea of having their meetings here. A satyr was walking around serving nachos and sodas to the group of kids. Seymour The leopard head was mounted on the wall and not in his usual spot in the living room. Every once in a while a counselor would throw him a snausage. With their backs facing the door, Abram spotted Connor Stoll, the co-leader of Hermes cabin, while he sprayed on some shaving cream in the palm belonging to Clovis who was asleep on the corner of the table. Clovis was the leader of the Hypnos cabin, which kind of meant he wasn't going wake up any time soon, making him the perfect target for Connor's prank. Jason and Piper were sitting in the middle on the opposite side looking directly at Leo and smiling. Jason patted the empty seat next to him as he was saving it for Leo.

"Gonna go sit down now, wait for me after the meeting?" Leo asked

"Uhh sure. No problem." Abram replied earning a smile from Leo before he turned and walked away.

Abram went back to looking around to see who was in the room. Clarisse, the leader of Ares cabin, had her feet on the table which didn't seem to bother anyone. _Guess she normally does that, which is so like her._ Abram Thought to himself. Miranda Gardiner, the head of Demeter Cabin, was talking away with Lou Ellen who was the head of Hecate cabin. Butch, who was the counselor for the Iris cabin, was just passing the time throwing the most snausages to Seymour out of the whole group. Annabeth was the most still out of everyone awake at the table. Her head was resting in her left palm and she seemed lost deep in thought. No doubt think about Percy, and how he was doing at the _other _camp. Her elbow must have been killing her though. Her eyes tightened every time Butch accidently hit the table with his leg, but Abram's guessed she was too deep in thought to notice she was in pain. Will Solace had gotten up from his chair next to Piper and made his way to Abram.

"Hey, don't look so nervous. This isn't a police interrogation or anything like that." Will said patting Abram on the arm. Even though they were half brothers, they didn't look anything alike. Will took after their dad Apollo. He has a surfer-body, sun kissed hair, and blue eyes. He was also very tall. He is 6'0 and has a very athletic body to go with his height. Abram on the other hand took more after his mortal mother. He had very dark brown hair. If he wasn't in the sun it looked almost pitch-black. His hair has also thinning a bit. He stood around 5'8 and didn't have an athletic body at all. He weighs around 195 pounds but people tell him he doesn't look it at all. He had brown eyes, almost like dark chocolate. Which in Abram's opinion was his second best feature, his first being his loyal personality. He wore a pair of blue glasses he has had since he came to camp. Having biokinesis let him keep his prescription the same even as he got older. He also had a bump on his right side of his forehead, his mother told him what it was, but he forgot. It didn't really bother him so they never got it removed. People always asked him why didn't he just change his face with his biokinesis so he didn't need glasses or have the bump on the right side of his forehead. His response was always: "I want to keep them, they are one of the last things I have that remind me of my life before Camp Half-Blood, and I don't want to lose it."

"No, that's not it. If it was, this is a pretty bad intimidation technique." Abram said nodding his head towards Clovis and Connor. Connor had pulled out a feather from his pocket and gentle rubbed it against Clovis's face trying to stop his own snickering so he wouldn't mess up. After three passes Clovis finally reacted swatting the area with his hand full of shaving cream with a loud **_*PLOP*_** it splashed all over his face and on the ping-pong table. Everyone started laughing, well everyone minus Annabeth and Clovis who didn't even wake up. He muttered something that sounded like _It's okay, the cat's got it with the salad._

"Dude, that prank is always a classic!" Leo said in between his laughs.

The laughter died down as the door to the rec room opened. Chiron came though stoking his beard in his human disguise. It made Abram wonder how he gotten that wheelchair up here, but he probably just got into it on the other side of the door so he wouldn't take up too much room during the meeting. He wheeled himself in the room and closed the door behind him. He took his place at the head of the table. Will had turned away from Abram and retook his seat next to Piper still smiling at Abram.

"Ahh, seems like everyone is here besides Miss Dare, so We'll-" He started but was interrupted with the door bursting open almost hitting Abram in the elbow, hard.

"Sorry I'm late everyone" Rachel huffed while closing the door. Rachel was a mortal that hosts the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi. That's the reason she attended these meetings, or why she could even pass the barrier around camp. She also has the ability to clearly see through the mist. The mist is a supernatural veil that twits mortal's sight from seeing monsters, gods, Titans, and other mythical creatures. It also replaces supernatural occurrences with things the mortal mind knows about and can comprehend. It seems to work on magical weapons as well.

She was wearing worn out jeans that had holes in them and had doodles on random place some of which were being covered with an over-sized sky blue shirt that had paint stains all over it. She is tall and slim with frizzled red hair, a freckled face, and green eyes. She quickly walked past Abram and to the head of the table. Abram noticed she had a blue hairbrush sticking out of her back pocket. _Kind of a weird thing to have but whatever _he thought. She pulled out her chair, and sat down next to Chiron.

"Well, Let's call this meeting to order." Chiron started. " Connor please stop filling Clovis's hand with more shaving cream. Clovis . . .CLOVIS!" He yelled which made Clovis slightly pick his head up slowly still not noticing his face was covered in white foam. "Please, clean yourself up, and Connor clean up the table." Chiron said as a satyr walked up to both of them handing a towel to each one. "Now then, all of us are aware, there have been several attacks on the camp believed to be done by a monster." Everyone nodded and muttered to each other something about the pain it was too clean up after each attack. "We have heard the rumors around camp of what it could be, but I believe Jason, Leo, and Abram have a _better_ idea of what it is." Everyone started to look at the three boys, but most of the eyes turned to Abram who was still standing by the door away from the ping-pong table.

"I was wondering why that loser was here." Clarisse said with a gruff voice. "You're not a head counselor Zamora, so don't get comfy being here with us!"

"I asked him to attend." Chiron said looking at Abram. "He has some special information that we should all know about." Leo did you bring what I asked?" Chiron asked looking at Leo now.

"Yeah, uhh right here." Leo said grabbing a zip lock bag out from his tool belt. You could clearly see a little chunks of what used to be a full square of ambrosia through the thin plastic. Apparently they had gotten busted up from just being in his tool belt. Leo got up and walked around the table and stood beside Abram.

"Before we talk any further I think you should put our minds to ease regarding the rumor about you floating around." The centaur said gesturing Abram to do something.

"_Great_, I'm putting on a magic show for the head counselors." Abram muttered under his breath so only Leo could hear him. He got a little laugh from Leo which made him feel a lot more comfortable.

"Better give them what they paid for." Leo said, a smile tugging at his mouth.

"Catch me if I fall?".

"If I can carry you tubby.".

"You aren't that weak shrimp." Abram took a breath before speaking up so the counsel could hear him. "Ladies and gentlemen," He started trying to make his voice sound like he was setting up the introduction to some over-priced performance. "On our journey we encountered a horrible monster that we believe is attacking our camp. We walked for a little more than an hour following its tracks, and at the end of them we found what we were looking for. It attacked us and almost killed me if not for this power I discovered I have." By this time Leo was starting to walk around Abram slowly like some cheap magician's assistant. _Too bad we don't have a dress for him._ Abram told himself in his head which made him chuckle. "Caution, what you are about to see my blow your mind away! Or it won't work completely-" Abram said looking at everyone's face individually. Leo was holding on Arm up and the other was out in front of him as if presenting a prize on one of those T.V. shows. Abram held his hand in a fist near his heart before slowly lowering and holding it out in front of him gently bent at the elbow. He released his fist and concentrated on focusing his energy in his palm. Abram had no idea if he was doing this right or not, but he had to start somewhere. Both times it happened it was an accident and in self-defense. He didn't know he had the power before today. Someone had taken that memory from him. Abram guessed in order to try to make sure he never used his powers.

At first nothing happened, but then Abram felt a tingle dance across his palm. A small energy force flickered to life in the center causing everyone in the room to gasp. It was faint at first but Abram kept concentrating on it. It slowly started to grow by the second. _It feels warm, and almost alive_. He thought to himself. Its bright light started to fill the room, and everyone could feel its warmth. Even Seymour purred enjoying it. Abram looked down at the orb of light now the size of his hand, but it didn't stop. It continued to expand. Even though it was weightless, Abram now had to use his other had to get a better hold of it. It reached the size of a beach ball and was no longer in Abram's hand. It floated inches above it. It looked like a miniature sun. He quickly started to feel lightheaded. He had passed the time limit he held out his shield the last time he used his powers. He was using more energy this time around then he did when he made his shield earlier that day.

"Dude! Let it go! " Leo yelled. It was very easy to hear the panic in his voice,

"Wh-" Abram grunted in response.

"You look like you're in pain!"

Abram quickly dropped his arms and the orb disappeared. He immediately started to fall the ground. "Don't worry, I got ya!" Leo said as he caught Abram and dropped to his knees to gently slow Abram's decent. He took the ambrosia and placed it into Abram's mouth. _Taste just like Hamburger pizza._ Abram said to himself as he chewed and swallowed it, a tear formed in his right eye and fell down his cheek. "Bro, I know I am beautiful to look at, but you don't need to cry." Leo said with a smile

"Shut up Leo" Abram grunted as he sat up by himself before whipping away the tear. Thanks, by the way." Abram said once getting to his feet.

"Once again, no problem." Leo replied. Abram scanned everyone's face in the room. It was easy to tell they were impressed. All of their mouths were hanging open. Even Clovis, but that could be because he fell asleep again and was snoring rather loudly. It was eerie to Abram, this many ADHD demigods in one room and it was completely silent.

"You're photokinetic?!" Will shouted as he stood up from the table breaking the silence.

"Is that even possible?" Connor asked stumbling out of his chair. He was unfortunate enough to land on his bottle of shaving cream causing it to spray all over his pants.

"Hmm maybe you aren't such a loser after all Zamora. Just make sure you make our battles interesting in the future, alright?" Clarisse said with a smile across her face like she had just won the lottery.

"Why would this be revealed now? Annabeth spoke up startling everyone in the room. It was the first time she had said since everyone gathered here. "What's the purpose of this new information." Rachel stood up and walked over to where Abram and Leo were standing.

"Now it makes sense." Rachel said almost in a whisper

"What makes sense?"Abram and Leo in unison.

"Recently these words were burning through my mind. _The Light and the Forge_" She stated as she started walking around both of them. "All this time I didn't know what it meant, but now it's clear. It has to be you two." She pointed at both of them.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, THEM?" Clarisse yelled furiously while spitting out her soda. "What makes you think that? They're not important. Why should they get a prophecy."

"It's not a prophecy. It's just these words were burning in my head. Whenever I saw Leo, that seemed to trigger it. Besides, we already know that The forge is the symbol of Hephaestus, and we just learned that Abram has the power to control light? It can't be a coincidence!" Rachel insisted.

"Hmm, it seems a bit out of the ordinary, and Clarisse they are important. Every camp member is, even if they haven't been on a quest yet." Chiron said looking at Abram.

"Did he have to bring that up." Abram muttered under his breath.

"It's cool man, they aren't really that exciting." Leo told him.

Rachel continued to walk around them as if inspecting them. She stopped right behind them and shook her head. "To me, it - it just feels like-" Before she could continue, Rachel's body stiffened. Her eyes began to glow with a greenish light, and she grabbed Abram and Leo by the shoulders.

**_The Light and Forge will form a Link_**

**_One to make the gods over think_**

**_A dangerous task they must face_**

**_to prevent others from Death's embrace._**

Her voice turned raspy and her grip was like a vice on Abram's shoulder, but still he tried to hold still until Rachel was done. As the last words left her mouth Rachel collapsed, but she didn't hit the floor. Abram and Leo reacted quickly enough to catch her and then proceeded take her back to her chair.

"I think, the two of you have just been giving a prophecy." Chiron said breaking the silence. "Now tell me. What exactly did you guys go out and find. What do you think is attacking the camp?"

Jason was staring at Abram and Leo but more so to Abram. He had this look of seriousness that Abram didn't find comfortable at all, but he could understand why Jason looked like that. Abram knew exactly what they were dealing with.

"A full grown Hydra." Jason finally said looking at Chiron.


	3. III Leo

**Welp, here is chapter 3 (Sorry it's short, but I'm not going to just give you one chapter this time. Chapter 4 coming out later today after I go over it. Hope you guys enjoy, and please review or send some feedback. Anything helps to make this story better. Also I do not have an editor (well someone to help me look over the chapters for mistakes) so if there are mistakes I'm sorry and I will try to fix them as soon as possible. **

***IMPORTANT UPDATE***

**Chapter 1 & 2 have been tweaked a bit. New paragraphs, and some grammar fixes. More detail that will possibly be referenced in later chapters.**

* * *

III

**Leo**

** Leo's face cringed at the memories of their battle from this morning. **He didn't really know what attacked them, but after Abram passed out things got worse. He remembered trying to carry Abram away from the battle, how heavy the guys was, and how there was almost no spot to put him to keep him safe so Leo could go back and help Jason. Finally putting a name to that monster made him realize that he would have to fight it again and it would be more dangerous than before. Also, getting a prophecy, basically telling him he had to go back to being in danger just days after getting back from almost dying at the wolf house made him more distressed.

"That thing was a hydra?" Leo shouted bringing himself out of his own thought. "I don't remember a lot about them, but isn't there a big no-no you are not supposed to do with those guys?"

"Yeah." Jason answered Cut off their heads . . . and we did just that."

"Oh . . .yeah" Leo's said softly making it obvious that his mood sank.

"You guys did what?" Abram asked looking at Leo.  
"Remember back in the infirmary when you asked what happened after you blacked out?" Leo said scratching the back of his head. "Well, I dragged you away so Jason and I could fight that thing without worrying about your safety. Wasn't easy to do either."

"So you guys killed it?" Annabeth questioned.

"Not exactly."

"What do you mean not exactly?"

"We thought it would kill it, because at the time we didn't know what it was and -"

"I cut off six of its heads." Jason interrupted Leo. He was glad Jason had interrupted him. He didn't want to take the full blame of making things worse, when in fact it was Jason who kept slashing away at it. He quickly shot Jason his best _Thanks man_ look he could give. "I wasn't thinking and I guess my memory is still fogged up. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't have time to think. I had to react fast. When we got back I went in search for Annabeth to get some more information from her. That is why I asked you those weird questions earlier." He said as he turned to face Annabeth. "I was trying to figure what is was without making you worry. Sorry, I should have told you what is was instead of being secretive. "

"Wait wait wait, you cut six of them off? Connor asked in shock. He was now leaning against the back wall. It seemed though as he didn't trust the chair he was sitting on earlier after falling. His pants were dry but were now stained from the shaving cream incident moments ago.

"I wasn't thinking." Jason snapped. "I just wanted to protect Abram and Leo."

_Oh great, he wanted to protect me_ Leo thought to himself. He would never admit it out loud, but Leo was jealous of Jason. He always felt like Jason was the star. Like he was in Jason's shadow. There was a time on their last quest when those feelings were thrown out there verbally, but in his defense he was being influenced by Medea's Charmspeak. Jason and Leo talked about what was said between them and both of them agreed none of it mattered, but to Leo it wasn't a feeling that was just going to go away. It was only just going to get stronger.

"What's done is done. How do you propose to take care of this situation now." Chiron spoke snapping Leo out of his thoughts.

"Who me?" Leo asked noticing that the centaur was looking at him.

"Well both of you, The prophecy was given to you and Abram. Dealing with a Hydra is going to be a very, VERY dangerous task. I don't see another task that could be dangerous enough to fit the prophecy. You two will need to form a battle strategy. Also we all know you have a previous engagement with your project 'The Argo II', and that has to be done in six months. Can you handle it?" Chiron asked him with his right eyebrow arched.

"Yeah, I'll get the rest of my cabin to start it out today and show them what needs to be done." Leo said trying his best to convince himself and everyone in the room. He noticed that everyone was staring at him. He could tell that they looked concerned as to whether or not Leo could handle his project that absolutely need to be done before the next six months were up. The truth was, having a six month time limit was pushing it already. Now he had to go on a quest and be absent for Zeus knows how long from the most important task he has been given yet. "We should be able to still make the deadline if we finish this quest fast." He said using his best fake confident voice he could muster up. Everyone seem to have bought it. They started talking amongst themselves. Leo couldn't hear any of them but he was sure they were starting to doubt his abilities.

"Hey," Abram whispered to Leo. "You got this, we'll finish this quest fast enough to give you time to spare." He gave Leo a smile a patted his back. For some reason Leo found himself believing Abram. He felt more relaxed and less stressed out around him.

"So, a quest together? Sound interesting." Leo whispered as he pulled some gears and levers out from his tool belt and started to fiddle with them to calm his nerves. He didn't know why his mind made him wait so long to do this. Even if he did it subconsciously, he still knew he did it when he was nervous.

"You alright? Abram had asked him

"Aces" he mumbled.

"Chiron, quests usually have groups of three demigods. I request that Jason comes with us since he was there at the attack." Abram spoke up getting the attention of the room.

"Very well, if Jason chooses to agree, he will be the third demigod for your quest. Jason. do you wish to join their quest?" Chiron asked

"Of course. These guys will need all the help they can get." Jason replied getting a smile from Leo.

"Then its settled, you three will journey through the forest, find and defeat the Hydra to protect this camp."

"Chiron!" Annabeth spoke out standing up. "I wish to lead a mission of my own to venture through San Francisco in search of the Roman Camp."

"Annabeth," Chiron replied stroking his beard, "It will be dangerous to go there, but I feel , I can't stop you. If you can find more people to agree to go with you, you may lead them on this mission. She nodded as a smile started to form across her face. "If there is no other news that needs to be shared I guess we can end this meeting. You are all dismissed."

Leo let out a sigh of relief. He had only been to a couple of meetings but he knew each one was going to be a drag for him. So far he was right. Well, one thing good came from this meeting, and it was waiting for him by the door. A new friend that seemed easier for Leo to open up to than most of the people he met here at camp. "Estás listo? Leo asked approaching him near the door.

"Sí. Cuando estés listo." Abram replied to him smiling. Leo could feel his mouth stretching into a wide grin. "So why did you want me to wait for you?" Abram had asked him.

"Well, to be straight forward I have no idea. I guess the thought of having someone who is a little more like me as a friend would be nice. I mean Piper and Jason are awesome and stuff, but I feel like a third wheel with them." They followed the rest of the head counselors out the door of the Big House rec room.

"Ahh, makes sense. I wouldn't know the feeling. I don't really talk to many people outside of Apollo Cabin and my friend Klari." Abram said

"Who?" Leo asked.

"Klari? A girl from Ares Cabin. She's-" Abram stopped to chuckle a bit. "A lot shorter then we are, very dark, and come to think of it I don't think you have seen her yet." He said as both of them were now walking down the staircase of The Big House. "She left on a quest a few days before you guys came back. I hope she is alright. Usually she would send me an Iris message but I haven't gotten one so far." Leo took the time to study Abram's reaction of the conversation. His face was full of concern as he talk about Klari. _I wonder if anyone would feel like that for me if I wasn't heard from for a while_ Leo thought to himself. _Well, probably Piper and Jason._ He was brought out of his thought as the door to the Big house squeaked open in front of him. "Counselors first." Abram said holding the door open.

"So what's the catch?" Leo said as he walked through the door and down the front steps of The Big House.

"What do you mean?" Abram asked.

"Well, usually people aren't this nice to someone they know almost nothing about. I mean we just started talking this morning."

"It's just how I am I guess." Abram replied. Leo could clearly see him blushing now that they were outside in the midday sun. "So I have a reason to not be nice? I mean my mom . . ." His face darkened. "She was always nice to everyone. I guess I just picked it up from her, besides. Us cursed kids need to stick together. Right?" He added with a winked.

Leo stopped on the front porch of The Big House. It wrapped all around the farmhouse. As they came around the opposite end of the house, he had to catch his breath. The view was always so much to take in. The valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. He still had trouble processing everything he saw from The Big House. The camp's landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture-an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena -except they all looked relatively new. Their white marble columns sparkled in the sun. In a nearby sandpit a group of Apollo kids were playing volleyball against a group of satyrs. In a small lake some campers glided across in canoes. A group of satyrs were in the strawberry fields playing their reed pipes. They must have been using nature magic, because they vines of the plants moved every so often. An army of ants and insects marched out of the field.

The wind would blow a soft breeze every once in a while as they started to walk away from The Big House and towards the Mess hall. The ringing sound that was carried with the wind came from a eagle weather vane with wind chimes that turned into dryads as they spun. They continued to walk neither one of them saying anything to the other. They decided to take their own path instead of following the main path with the rest of the counselors. They traveled along the river that ran from the beach to The Big House. Occasionally one of them made a remark about something they saw or rumors going around camp. For two demigods about to go on a dangerous mission, they were relaxed and enjoying the afternoon sun.

"You know what, I think I am going to skip lunch." Abram spoke up.

"Why?" Leo asked.

"I think I am going to go pack for the quest. We want to leave tonight right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. " Leo agreed. "Hmm I guess I'll skip too. I have to gather everyone in my cabin and start them on the project before we leave anyways. See you at dinner!" Leo shouted to Abram as he ran off not waiting for Abram to answer back, feeling a little sad. He wasn't completely sure why he enjoyed Abram's company so much, but he did. Leo followed the stream to the camp forge. Upon arriving closer, the familiar sounds of machinery grinding, fires roaring, of hammers against metal grew louder. The forge looked like a steam-powered locomotive had smashed into the Greek Parthenon and they had fused together. White marble columns lining walls stained with soot. Chimneys on the roof pump smoke over an elaborate gable that was carved with a bunch of gods and monsters. He stepped through the doorway and five of his siblings were there. "Oh good, you guys are here. Thought I was going to have to hunt you guys down by myself."

"Hey, Leo. What's up?" Harley said, removing his goggles.

"I was just given another quest and it turns out I won't be able to keep track of the construction on The Argo II. I am going to need you guys to gather everyone else and meet me outside the cabin right away." They agreed as they put down their latest creations and ran out of the forges to gather the rest of Hephaestus Cabin. Leo walked to the big wall map they had pinned up of Camp Half-Blood. He should have the location of bunker 9 memorized but he had other things on his mind. He studied the map and recalled a general idea to where it was, he then ran out to meet his cabin-mates.

"Alright guys, like I told Jake, Nyssa, Shane, Christopher, and Harley, I have been assigned another quest. It will be time consuming so I am going to need your help to keep The Argo II project on track. This means You guys are going to have to work harder. Sucks, I know but I have to go on this quest. So, I hope you guys already ate or planned on skipping lunch because we need to get moving right now." He turned toward the forest and the direction he hoped Bunker 9 was in.

They walked through the forest for a while until the trees where as tall as skyscrapers and the canopy of leaves blocked almost all of the sunlight. Leo couldn't explain it. Everything felt familiar around him. It wasn't just because he was leading them to the bunker. It felt like if he had turned a different direction he would find the trail they followed that morning to the Hydra. _It couldn't be that close to Bunker 9, could it?_ He asked himself.

Finally they crossed a stream and came to a familiar dead end, a limestone cliff a hundred feet tall. Leo put his hand on the cliff. Lines of fire spread from his fingertips. The burning lines raced across the cliff face until they had outlined a glowing red door five times bigger than himself. He backed up and the door swung open, disturbingly silently for such a big slab of rock. The group of demigods started to walk through the entrance before stopping in their tracks. A sound traveled through the trunks of the trees. The leaves that were on the floor started to move slowly, as if there was a soft breeze rolling in, but they felt no wind. It was very faint, but Leo had already heard that same sound twice that day. "The hydra" he muttered."

"Uhh, the what?" Nyssa asked. She was dressed the same as the first day Leo met her. She was wearing a tank top and a red bandana to tie back her dark hair.

"Get in! I'll explain later!" Leo cried gesturing his cabin-mates to move faster. It took longer than Leo wanted, but everyone finally crowded into the airplane hangar sized cave. The combination of Florescent lights on the ceiling and torches mounted on the walls all lit up as the door closed. Even though Leo had been here twice before, he still found himself in awe at the sight of the workshop around them. Endless worked tables placed along the sides of the walls, all piled with blueprints and design notes for inventions that would take a century to prototype them all. All kinds of equipment was scattered throughout the cave. Hydraulic lifts, wielding torches, hazard suits, air-spades, and even forklifts.

"So explain, what was that sound outside." Nyssa questioned him.

"It was a hydra." Leo replied

"A Hydra? Like a real life Hydra?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, it's the monster that has been attacking the camp. That quest I told you about, well Abram, Jason, and myself are going to go defeat it. Like I said, it will probably take some time to accomplish so that is why I brought you here." Leo told the group as he brought out his newer version of the Argo II blueprints and spread it out on one of the worktables. "While I am gone, I want you guys to start on this. I want this thing to be two hundred feet long with a bronze hull. On the lower deck we are going to build some stable here." Leo said as he took out a pencil and circled the spot on the blueprints. The floor will be glass and operational like hanger doors. Next to it I want to put two storage areas. In the middle of the lower deck we are going to make the Main Engine Room. We will also need to put in a Sickbay and an Armory here and . . . here." His brothers and sister listen intently to him as he explained his dream ship. Occasionally one would ask a question on how big Leo wanted a certain room or how much celestial bronze would they need for the whole project.

"Now the upper level is where the cabins are going to be. We need to make eight cabins in this general area." He said as he circled his blueprints again. " We can also put a Mess hall here and a Gallery on the opposite side. I think that covers the basics."

"What about the top exterior?" Harley asked.

"Yeah, there is a lot more things we need to make and still go over, but for now you guys can start on those two parts. I doubt I will be gone longer than it would take to build the lower level. Alright guys Let's get started. We have A spankin' hot war machine to build!" Leo cheered causing the rest of Hephaestus cabin to cheer with him.


	4. IV Leo

***IMPORTANT!***

**Well, here is chapter 4. Remember that this chapter and chapter 3 came out together so don't miss that other chapter.**

* * *

IV

**Leo**

** Leo didn't realize how late it had gotten. **A rumbling echoed throughout the hanger sized cave, and over the roaring of various machinery. He grabbed onto his stomach. It was making a series of gurgles loudly reminding him, that he had gone all day long running on empty. He looked around and he wasn't the only one that looked hungry. Several of his siblings were either holding their stomachs as well, or crouching trying to make the pain go away.

"Guess we should head back to camp for dinner." Leo said getting grunts of approval from everyone. Well everyone that had the strength to spare. "Alright, push everything to the side and let' go back and eat. He didn't need to tell them twice. Once everyone heard that their work was done for now and it was time to eat, yelling for people to move out of the way, tools dropping onto of tables with resonating **thunks** , and the rolling sound of heavy machinery being pushed to out of the way filled Bunker Nine. With everyone focused on a common goal the time it took clean up was faster than anyone could have thought. In mere minutes everyone was gathered at the front entrance waiting for Leo to give the okay to leave. After doing an inspection and deciding it was reasonable he opened the door to Bunker Nine and carefully stepped out. He wanted to make sure his cabin-mates were safe. He assumed if anyone was going to be killed in Hephaestus Cabin from the Hydra, it was going to be him, and not before the quest started. The wind was blowing very faintly, which was a good sign. Being night didn't help the mood any, no matter how creepy the forest usually was. It took less time to get back to camp then it did to get to Bunker Nine. He saw the familiar sight of the dinning pavilion. It's an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. It has stone picnic tables arranged the same way the cabins where. So they made an Omega shape. At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns, and a fire burned in the center in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin has its own table, covered in white cloth and a purple trim. Near the middle of the pavilion there was a ten foot long thin gray scar on the marble floor. Leo never gave it much thought. To him, the pavilion was old and was in need of a new foundation.

They made their way to the Hephaestus table. Leo sat on the opposite side close to the Apollo table, so he was able to see Abram looking at him as he drank. A group of wood nymphs made their way over placing plates in front of them. There were only certain types of foods served in the pavilion. In front of him platters of lean BBQ, grapes, apples, cheese, strawberries, and fresh bread sat on the table. Leo was starving. If it wasn't for Nyssa stopping him, he would have eaten all of his food without remembering to burn some as an offering for his Father.

He was the last to get up. Quietly he went to the crackling fire and slid off a piece of his brisket from his plate. He found himself whispering, "Hephaestus." As the food burned he caught the scent of a bunch of different foods that smelled incredible but should have not mixed as well as they did. When he turned everyone in his cabin was sitting back at their table. Instead of walking back to his seat, he changed his direction just a bit to the right and walked straight to the table of Apollo's children. Most of them took after their dad's appearance: blonde hair, an athletic build, blue eyes. Abram was one of the few that didn't. He stuck out from the group, which made it easier for Leo to keep him locked in his sights. Abram was talking to one of his brothers, probably about how he had gotten a prophecy and a quest. Leo didn't know the name of guy he was talking to until one of the other Apollo children tapped him on the back and whispered Chris before pointing at Leo. Abram also turned to Leo walking towards the table noticing that his conversation buddy's focus was somewhere else.

The expression on Abram's face was priceless. He eyes got almost as big as you would see on an owl, his face started to turn a crimson shade of red, and his mouth looked like he was whispering: _Almighty Apollo! What do you think you are doing?_ He quickly turned to Chris and whispered something in his ear before turning around and saying the same thing to the kids next to him. It must of have been something about leaving because they did just that, but not before giving Leo a dirty look as if he was just going to bring a curse upon both of the cabins.

He wanted to see how far he could push it. Leo hopped over the bench and sat with a loud _**Plop!**_ By this time everyone in Apollo Cabin was staring him down. He was pretty sure if he turned to look, his cabin would be doing the same thing. For some reason or another Chiron didn't seem to notice. Even with everyone whispering and pointing at them. "So, I suggest we leave soonish. Like skip the s'mores, and get someone else to lead the sing along instead of you." Leo said with the biggest smile he could muster up without bursting in laughter.

"Leo, this isn't funny." Abram got up and started to walk away stopping after a few steps. "Well, are you coming or not? Leo was confused for a second, and was sure it showed on his face. "I thought you wanted to leave." Abram finally said.

"I do, but first I need to talk to Chiron about something, and my cabin needs to come with us as well." Leo replied as he got up from the Apollo table.

"Whatever." Abram muttered under his breath as he waited for Leo to take the lead. Leo made his way to the table Chiron was sitting at.

"Chiron, If I am going to go on this quest, there won't be anyone to open Bunker Nine. I propose that Hephaestus cabin stay in Bunker Nine until our quest is complete."

"Hmm, I didn't think about that." The centaur replied stroking his beard. "How will they eat if they can't leave?

"I . . .I was thinking, are there plates thet fill with food as the goblets do with the drinks?" Leo asked .

"Well, yes there are some. Alessa," Chiron said calling over a camper from Hermes Cabin. "can you please bring the plates from the basement?" She smiled and agreed as she ran off.

"We are going to need a lot of them. I also wanted to put them in The Argo II when it was done." Leo added.

"Oh, well she might need some help then." Chiron replied.

"I'll go help her. We'll stat piling them on the porch if you and the rest of cabin nine could meet us there to help?"

"Yeah, sure no problem." Leo said as Abram turned and ran off to catch up to Alessa. "So the goblets, can we take the ones that we are using?"

"I don't see why not. Just make sure they don't get melted down for anything. Not exactly easy to replace." Chiron said with a chuckle. Leo went back to Hephaestus table and told them to take their goblets and for a small group to go the Big House to help Alessa and Abram with the plates. Jason had seen what they were doing and jogged over to Leo with his goblet in his hand.

"What's all this about?" He asked.

"So we have something to drink, and so they have something to live off of when we are out on our quest."

"Huh?" Jason replied, his face in totally confusion. Leo took the next few minutes to explain his plan. How Cabin nine would stay in Bunker Nine and how Jason, Abram, and Leo would have something to eat and drink while in the forest. "Oh, that makes sense." Alessa, Abram, Jake, and Shane had returned with a small stacks of platters in their hands.

"Ready to go?" Abram Asked Leo.

"Almost." Leo replied before jogging off back to the Apollo table and snatching the goblet Abram was drinking out of earlier.a "Now we're ready." He smiled. Abram had a look on his face that said _I can't believe you just did that_.

The group of campers made their way to the common area of the cabins. "So, how long do we plan on staying out there?" Leo finally asked.

"Who knows." Abram replied.

" It depends on how long it takes to track and defeat the Hydra." Jason added. They put down the plates and the goblets on the ground of the common courtyard the cabins shared, before everyone had ran off to their respective cabins gathering supplies for at the most the next two months.

The kids from Hephaestus cabin grabbed pillows, blankets, clothes, and toiletries. Jason, Abram, and Leo had gathered backpacks filled with clothes, one of the magic plates from the ground as well as the goblet they had used for dinner. A spare backpack sat on the floor that was full of some emergency provisions and Ziploc bag full of Ambrosia squares. Abram and Jason also had their weapons on them. Jason's Gladius hung off his belt on his right side. A quiver was slung over Abram's right shoulder, full of arrows. He also had some extra arrows sticking out of his backpack. His bow was hanging off his quiver. Strapped to his lower back where two thin swords. Their sheaths made an 'X' shape. Leo was surprised, he didn't know Abram knew how to use dual swords. Leo didn't have a weapon. He had his tool belt, which e never took it off so he didn't have to retrieve it. Everyone had also decided to put on full Greek armor. It was a good idea considering they were about to walk through the monster infested forest at night.

"I think, you should at least take sword Leo." Abram suggested.

"I wouldn't know how to use it if I did." He admitted to Abram.

"Hmm, well go to the weapon shed and see if you can find one that feels good and when we are out there I will teach you the basics."

"I guess it couldn't hurt. . ." Leo mumbled as he walked off toward the weapon shed and started digging around. He must have take a while because Abram had strolled over and was watching him from outside. "How about this." He came out holding a sword that he knew wasn't balanced for him.

"Leo, that sword is too heavy for you. Look how you hold it. The tip is way too low and not at all in level with the rest of the sword when you hold it out like that.

"Fine." Leo replied as he tossed it aside in the shed and brought another one out. "What about this one?" He literally had to drag it outside the shed. It screeched against the pavement leaving a faint scratch behind it.

"Seriously? You can't even lift that you idiot!" Abram chuckled covering his mouth. Leo shot him a smile and dragged it back inside. He assumed his little fun was over for now. He reached for an ordinary blade that hung off the wall. It wasn't anything special. It wasn't too heavy or too light. I wasn't a perfect match, but for training it would have to do.

"Done trying on clothes?" Abram snickered as he playfully shoved Leo.

"I guess, but when we get back you are buying me name brand!" Leo replied with his signature smirk. Abram just sighed and shock his head. They walked back to the group waiting for them in the common area. "Alright, we are heading for Cabin Nine right now." Leo said addressing the group. "We will escort you guys safely there before leaving on our quest. You guys will stay there until our quest is done. Anyone who doesn't want to doesn't have to go. Any questions?" No comment from anyone. "Alright then, Let's move out."

The forest was dangerous during the day. It felt like walking through Tartarus itself at night. The area of the woods they were at had grown so heavy that the only light they had was a small fire Leo held in his hand. They got a lot of dirty looks and "Hey, Don't get that near me!" from wood nymphs as they walked. A group of more than twelve plus demigods all with ADHD and carrying all kinds of things that rattled with each step, it wasn't exactly the stealthiest mission they have ever been on. It wasn't long before the sounds of growls and howling surrounded them.

"Shit!" Leo cursed.

"Weapons, everyone!" Jason said calmly but forcefully. There was a different assortment of weapons out and ready to attack. There were hammers, daggers, regular sized swords and a two handed sword that was twice the size of its holder. As the growling nearer, it got more aggressive and louder. _That can't be a wolf or wolves._ Leo thought to himself. It didn't seem to move, but Leo guess whatever it was, it wanted to look for the weak ones of the group first.

"Leo, can you give us more light?" Jason asked.

"I'll try man." Leo replied. He focused his energy a bit more and his flame grew twice the size. Its light was enough for everyone in the group to be fully visible, but not enough to light the surrounding area.

"Can you make it brighter? Jason questioned.

"Not without upsetting almost every dryad in the forest." He replied.

"I could try using my powers." Abram said as he approached Jason and Leo who were back to back looking into the darkness around them.

"Are you sure? Last thing we need is for you to faint on us again." Leo told him

"Yeah, I have to start using my power more. I should be fine as long as I don't do anything too crazy." Abram closed his eyes and brought his hand to his heart, like he did back in The Big House rec room. Leo was prepared for a dim light to emerge from his hand but to his surprise Abram held an orb of light that was five times brighter than his fire. The area quickly lit up.

"I wonder . . ." Abram said. Leo could see an idea forming across his face,

"Whatcha thinking dude?" Leo asked him. Lowering his hand and extinguishing his fire.

"I'm gonna try something, let's hope it works." Abram replied looking into the night sky above them. Abram tossed the orb up into the sky where it hovered over them revealing a larger area around them, but at the cost of it not being as bright.

"Well then, Lumos Maxima!" Leo shouted.

"I swear Leo, you are so -are those what I think they are." Abram gasped.

Jason nodded. "Hellhounds." .

The growling had turned into an ear-piercing howl that shook the earth underneath their feet and ripped through the night air. In front of them appearing out of the darkness were three large, black mastiffs with piercing red eyes, and dagger-like fangs. They stood smacking their lips as if they had just found a bag of treats. Leo had to do a triple take because at first he thought they were just grizzly bears, but then his friends said hellhounds. He really wished it would've been grizzles instead.

"Everyone, behind us!" Jason yelled as Leo and Abram rushed to his side.

"Dude, do you think we can take them down?" Leo asked him

"We have no choice." Abram added as he fell in line with them. He now had his bow drawn and six arrows notched. _I knew Abram was a good archer, but damn six arrows?_ Leo thought to himself. "Pushing your skills a bit nightlight?" Leo asked.

"Not even close flame boy." Abram replied giving him a smile. "You should have seen me when they re-opened the chariot races four years ago."

One of the hellhounds snarled in their direction before melting into the darkness. It reemerged behind a tree on their flank. It's barked startled everyone behind Jason, Leo, and Abram. They quickly jumped back from the source bumping their defenders, which was more than enough to set off the hellhounds. The sudden movement made the them lunge in for the attack.

"Fuck, not good!" Leo yelled as he pulled a silver pin hammer from his tool belt. Jason jumped in front of him and brought up his Gladius to block the swipe of one of the hellhounds. Its claws stayed on the blade trying to break through it. Leo took this time to raise his hammer and smash it down on the hellhound's head. It yelped in pain and staggered off in confusion. It walked straight into the other hellhound as it was in mid swipe knocking it to the ground.

"Oh thank gods." Abram sighed before he launched his volley of six arrows to the hellhound that Leo and Jason had confused. Even with Abram's perfect aim, the hellhound was moving too fast. The arrows had not hit were they were intended to hit, but still hit the hound. Two arrows dug into the monster's back right thigh. The other four impelled the side of the beast's stomach. It roared in pain. Sending chills up Leo's spine. The attack didn't stop it though. It was enough to slow it down. A dark liquid oozing out of its wounds and leaving a trail on the ground. Behind them the other campers tried to defend themselves, but were not making any notable progress at a moment's glance of taking it down. They had the beast surrounded a few yards away. Poking and prodding it with their weapons.

In front of them, the hellhound that wasn't wounded seemed to take offense that they group of demigods weren't dead yet. It growled and barked bearing its teeth to Jason, Leo and Abram. Its bark made the leaves in the tree shake as well as the ground. Jason lost his footing and fell to one knee. The hellhound took this opportunity to attack and leaped towards him.

"JASON!" Abram cried. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and held its neck, a little bit under the arrowhead. He jumped and caught the beast. He wrapped his arms around its neck and thrust his arrow into it. It quickly fell to the ground from the extra weight and barely missed sliding into Jason. "Leo, the other one!" Abram huffed trying to get his arm out from underneath the monster before it could get to its feet and attack him.

Leo's attention turned to the wounded hellhound with arrows in it. He snapped his fingers and summoned a fireball to each of his hands. He threw them at the beast's feet trying to scare it away. It seemed to work for a few seconds, but it growled and started to charge for him. His eyes widened at the speed it was coming at him. He barely had time to jump out of its way. He landed hard on a lump that hugged his right leg. The sword Abram forced him to bring. The hellhound stopped before running into the other group of demigods and turned around to face Leo. They had killed the hellhound they surrounded and were coming over to aid Leo. Before it could charge again Jake had stabbed the beast on its back left thigh.

It howled in pain before turning around and snapping at him. It moved so fast that Jake had forgotten to pull out his weapon. Its attention was on the Hephaestus Cabin group now. Leo unsheathed his sword and stared into the blade, his reflection staring back at him. The light was starting to fade from Abram's light orb he threw into the sky earlier. He rotated his blade a bit and saw Jason and Abram fighting the other hellhound behind him. He stopped when Abram took up the full reflection in the blade. The image was slightly orange. The light that created the reflection was coming from fire Leo had thrown on the ground. It warped the image a bit making it look like Abram was being engulfed by flames.

"Hey y'all, I've got a crazy idea!" Leo yelled not knowing if anyone was listening." He looked at his Cabin-mates who were having trouble with their second hellhound. The first seemed to have taken a lot of their energy. "Let's boogie," he said. "Before I come to my senses."

He ran at a full sprint up a nearby hill, jumped, and aimed for the hellhound attacking his siblings. He landed on its neck and wrapped his legs around it to keep from falling off. He picked up his sword and slammed it down tip first into the hound's neck. It slid through with a sickening _**CRACK!**_ The beast stopped moving and fell to the floor throwing Leo off of it. When he looked back, the body of the hellhound was melting into the shadows, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

"Leo! Look!" Harley screamed pointing to Jason and Abram behind him. They were still fighting the last hellhound, and by the looks of it, it wasn't going good. The hellhound had pushed Jason away with its right paw as he went in closer to lunged at it with his sword. It turned its attention to the last one standing in front of it, Abram.

He had his dual swords out now and was trying to fight melee to melee with the beast. The hellhound lunged with its left paw, but Abram blocked it with his left sword. Similar to how Jason defended Leo earlier. Its claws stuck on the blade and instead of pulling back, it pushed down harder. It stood on its hind legs and swiped with its right paw now. Abram blocked its attack again with his right sword. The hellhound pushed down harder and knocked Abram off balance. It pinned Abram to the ground and snapped its mouth trying to bite him.

"Jason! Get up!" Leo yelled as he ran to Abram's aid. Jason shock off his daze and tackled the beast off of Abram before Leo got there.

"You okay?" Jason said offering a hand to Abram.

"Yeah, thanks Jason." Abram grunted as he got up.

"Watch out!" Leo yelled.

"JASON" Abram pushed him out of the way, then turned around in time to see the hellhound jumping in to attack. He couldn't react fast enough and only thought of to raise his right arm to protect himself. The beast's razor-sharp claws ripped through his armor like paper. Abram grunted with pain as he grabbed his wound. Jason quickly stood back up and impaled the beast's ribcage to his left side. Leo had finally arrived with his sword raised up. Running with so much force allowed his blade to slide into the hellhound's heart with ease. The blade slide all the way to the hilt. A dark liquid gushed from its wounds staining the floor underneath it. The rushing fluid slowly came to a trickle covering Jason's and Leo' hands. The hellhound thrashed its head in pain but didn't move any closer to them. It finally collapsed, losing any energy it had left. Its body disappeared in the same manner as the one before. It slowly melted into the shadows under it, soaking into the ground before disappearing.

Everyone was trying to catch their breath. "Everyone good?" Jason asked. A series of "Yeah" and "I'm alright" came from everyone in the group except from Abram.

"What about you Abram?" Leo huffed.

"Yeah, I'm f-fine." Abram replied with a wince.

"You don't sound fine. HOLY Hephaestus! What happened to your arm."

"It's ju-just a scratch. I'll be fine." Abram said still holding on to his right arm.

"Dude, that is not fine!" Leo rushed to Abram's side and gently held his arm up to examine it. He had to force Abram to let go, but he managed to do it. On his forearm there were three deep gashes. His skin was stained crimson from his blood. "If you keep bleeding like that you are going to bleed out!" Leo quickly grabbed their bag that was full of their medical supplies. He took out a Ziploc bag and tore off a piece of Ambrosia. "Open!" Leo demanded Abram.

"I'm not a baby Leo!" Abram snapped. His face was starting to turn a very faint shade of red, but it still looked pale in comparison to the other times he got embarrassed in front of Leo.

"Hey, argue when you're not dying." Leo screamed back at him. Abram took the ambrosia chunk from Leo and gulped it down.

"There mom, can we go now?" Abram asked full of sarcasm.

"We really shouldn't be out here longer then we need to be with this many demigods together." Jason said. Everyone just nodded in agreement and continued walking towards Bunker Nine. It didn't take long from them to get there. The group of hellhounds stopped them about twenty minutes away from the bunker doors. Leo placed his hands on the side of the cliff and the door opened how it usually did. Everything was exactly as they had left it.

"Alright guys, let's setup for the night! Unpack your things and claim a space to call your room for the next two months. or so. Also set up a eating area and place the plates and goblets there." Leo ordered his cabin before turning to Jason and Abram. "I think it would be best to stay here until morning."

"Yeah, we could all use a little time to gather our energy after that fight." Jason replied.

Leo nodded in agreement. "Guys, get the sleeping equipment from that storage room as well please."

Bunker Nine isn't just a hidden workshop. It is at least two hundred years old. It used to be a strongpoint for Hephaestus Cabin during the Demigod Civil War and only has been used a couple of times since then. Leo had discovered it before they set out on their quest to save Hera, so naturally they are a lot of things that haven't been discovered yet in Bunker Nine. One of the things that has been discovered was a storage room filled with sleeping supplies and camping equipment. It had cots, a ton of extra blankets, and enough pillows to supply to cabins for a pillow war. Another thing was a room filled with weapons and spare chunks of Celestial bronze.

The Hephaestus Cabin kids had already set up cots around the room towards the walls. Almost all of them, besides one, was taken.

"Abram I think you should take it." Jason said noticing the lack of beds.

"Nahh, I's alright. I can handle the floor."

"You sure?" Jason asked him. "I mean you were hurt pretty badly, just a little while ago."

"_Were_, keyword." He raised his arm and showed Jason. "It's all healed." The area that was badly injured twenty minutes ago was fully healed. "Ambrosia, plus natural healing powers. Pretty sweet if I do say so myself." After Jason and Leo had a bickering moment between themselves it was decided that Jason would get the last cot to sleep in, and Abram and Leo would sleep on the floor.

"Thanks Harley and Nyssa." Leo said as they came over with armloads of blankets and tossed them in front of him.

"So how are we doing this? Abram asked Leo. "Do we each take half and make a bed out of it?"

"Nahh dude, we'll just unfold them and pile them up. Like a sleepover. It'll be more comfortable that way. Leo replied

"So. . . you don't mind sharing a bed?"

"Nope. I ran away six times, I've slept in weird places. Sharing a bed is nothing. Why? Do you have a problem with it?" Leo asked

"No, just didn't want you to be uncomfortable. Oh by the way, that was really nice swordplay out there. Nyssa told me how you killed the second hellhound."

"Oh, yeah I have no idea where that came from. I honestly don't know how to use a sword."

"Could've fooled me." Abram replied. "You and Jason realy saved my ass out there. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." was all Leo managed to say.

The spent the next few minutes make a place to sleep that wasn't entirely uncomfortable. Their bed made a 'T' with the wall, the way they had set it up.

Leo had taken off his armor and his backpack and thrown them next to the wall. He unbuckled his sword from his pants and held its hilt in left hand and its sheath in his right. He unsheathed the sword and stared at the reflecting celestial bronze. _A sword. Not my first choice of weapon, but it really helped out today._ Leo thought to himself. He was glad that Abram told him to bring it. If he didn't, things might have gone a little different in that fight with the hellhounds, and something told Leo not for the better. He re-sheathed the sword before placing in on the ground next to him.

He looked to his right and saw getting ready for bed as well. Abram put his bag down and took his armor off. He set them both next to the wall close to his side. Hey placed his quiver and bow in arm's reach, Leo guessed in case he need them for any reason. He put his glasses in between the bowstring and the bow before laying down.

"G'night Leo." Abram said barely above a whisper so only Leo could hear him and he wouldn't wake anyone who was asleep already.

"Good night Abram" Leo replied before falling asleep.


	5. V Jason

**Well here is the next chapter. Enjoy!.**  
**Side note - I think I am going to make the length of all future chapter as long as this one :/  
**

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V

**Jason**

** Jason wondered how he slept through all the noise. **He was the first one to wake up from the quest group, but everyone from Hephaestus Cabin was already wide awake and working on the shell of The Argo II. He got up and made his way to Abram's and Leo's makeshift bed. Jason couldn't decided what was funnier: Leo in a jumbled mess of pillows, his hair in a crazier mess then usually, and his arms and legs sprawled out in different directions, or Abram laying in the fetal position with his arms tightly wrapped around Leo's waist, his head resting in the crook of Leo's neck, and using Leo's right arm for a pillow. He gently shook Leo's arm to wake him up. "Hey love birds, have a good night sleep?"

Leo's fluttered open. "What's up man?" He asked in a groggy voice.

"Maybe you could tell me?" Jason replied nodding his head towards Abram.

"What, um nothing man," Leo muttered. "We were just cuddling. Um, we ready to head out?"

Leo was Jason's best friend, so the thought of making fun of him farther than one comment didn't even come to his mind, even though some of Leo's cabin-mates told him to say something when he walked past them on his way over here. "Well, I am. Just waiting on you two."

"Well, we are still packed, but let's eat something before we leave." Leo said removing his arm from under Abram waking him up.

"Ugh, I was having a nice dream for once. Why did you wake me up?" Abram asked with a drowsy voice.

"Not that it wasn't super uncomfortable, but I needed my arm back." Leo said getting up from the bed.

"We should head out in a bit Abram, so you better get up and eat something now while you have the chance." Jason added before he followed Leo to the newly appointed space that would be the kitchen in Bunker Nine for the next month or so. "So Leo, how do these plates work?" Jason asked him when they sat down.

"Uhh, maybe they work like the goblets." Leo replied with uncertainty in his voice.

"Two Pancakes, Two eggs scrambled, a strip of bacon, a slice of ham, and a sausage link, oh and orange juice." Abram announced when he sat down next to Leo. The platter and goblet in front of him quickly filled up with his request. The food smelled so fresh and the orange juice smelled like it was just squeezed. Everything smelled so good that Jason couldn't help asking for the same thing.

"How did you know how they work?" Leo asked Abram with a mouth full of bacon.

"I dunno, I just asked?" Abram replied between bites. "So what's the plan for when we leave?"

"You see those sheets of Celestial Bronze there?" Leo asked them as he pointed towards the door. There, by the door were three long sheets of Celestial Bronze. They were about as long an average door in a house and twice as thick.

"Yeah, what about them?" Jason asked.

"Well, when we do leave we are going take them with us." Leo replied.

"What for?" Abram questioned.

"So I can make us a shelter out there, or do you want to just camp in a tent with no protection from any monsters." Leo remarked. Jason could see a look of clarity wash over Abram' face as he realized it was a good idea.

"And . . . you want us to carry them?" Jason asked

"Well duh! I don't really have anything to carry them with, and I could make something but it would take a few hours to fin-."

"I'm usually lazy," Abram interrupted him. "but I think we should just leave as soon as possible. The longer we take on this quest the higher the chance of more people getting hurt at camp." They came to an agreement to just carry them and leaving behind their armor.

"Where are we going to set this up? Any ideas" Jason asked Leo.

"Uh, I do have a place in mind. I just hope we can find it again." Leo muttered. "You guys ready to head out?"

"Yeah." Jason and Abram said in unison. The three boys got up from the table, wiped their plate and goblets clean, took it with them to gather their things. Leo and Abram decided to wrap up some blankets and put them on their backs in bundles. Jason volunteered to do the same, but with some pillows. They said their goodbyes to Leo's siblings and tried to find a comfortable way of carrying the sheets of celestial bronze out of Bunker Nine. They journeyed for thirty minutes before taking a break. The metal on their backs started to grow intensely warm as the sun started to rise higher in the sky. The laid their sheets of metal against some trees but quickly got a talking to by some angry nymphs.

"Geez," Leo hissed. "Are there any trees that are just trees?"

"There are." Abram laughed at Leo before tossing him a water bottle. "We're just unlucky that we keep picking the wrong ones." They sat around and talked. Jason told Abram more of the story of what happened when he blacked out against the Hydra. He was a good listener. He had a few questions but mostly he just stared at Jason and nodded. After he finished reciting the past, Jason suggested they continued moving on. Not looking forward to carrying the sheet of metal, Jason was reluctant to get under it. He got the best hold he could get on the large object and followed Leo as he led on once again.

They were treading through the forest for almost a total time of an hour before Jason realized where they were going.

"Are you taking us back to where we saw the Hydra?" Jason asked Leo.

"Eeyupp." Leo replied still walking ahead of them. "I figured best place to start looking for our monster, would be to go where we last saw it."

Jason didn't argue with Leo's logic. For once it actually made sense. Abram and Leo were ahead of Jason. He noticed how quickly they took to each other in the past day and a half. He really didn't think anything more of it, besides the line of the prophecy, but he knew like their relationship was just getting started. The canopy of leaves started to thin the further away they got from Bunker Nine. Screeches of monster echoed through the air, but nowhere as heavy as it did the night before. The good news: they didn't have that many demigods walking together anymore, the bad news: they're still very powerful demigods, no doubt their scent was overpowering any other demigods scents in the forest besides theirs. The woods started to clear around them. They started to became still, as if anything that valued life steered clear of this area. Jason totally understood, it was the smart thing to do. He saw what they were going to be up against, and with his past actions made the situation a whole lot worse.

The sun was high in the sky. It must have been noon. Jason really couldn't take the weight on his back anymore, but he was relieved when the he heard the familiar sound of nothingness in the nature, and the only sound in the area coming from the waterfall at the lake. All three boys threw down their extra luggage with grunts on the north side of the lake.

"Let's not do that again." Abram huffed. "Next time, Make a three man wheelbarrow or something."

Jason caught his breath before looking around the small valley. It was just the way it was after the Hydra attack. The once peaceful lake was not Dark puddles of a glowing green substance were scattered around where the Hydra tried to melt them by spitting acid. They were still steaming so Jason made a mental note to not get anywhere near them., Most of them were away from the lake, Jason was glad about that. If this was where they were going to set up their camp/base, their main source of water was unharmed. Trees littered the area, even though most of the dryads they had met recently just yelled at him, he hoped no dryads died along with the trees. Something told him some lives were lost.

"Sucks dude," Leo said as if reading Jason's thoughts. "But at least now I have more resources for our shelter."

"How can you say something like that?" Abram scolded him.

"We have to make a shelter to stay alive our here. I'm not saying I am glad they're dead, but now I can make a more sturdy cabin. It'll help us to stop this from happening again, at least stop the Hydra from doing anymore of this."

Abram responded with a grunt. Jason didn't blame the guy, if he didn't know Leo as well as he does, Jason would have thought Leo was heartless too, but on their last quest Leo went through some hardships. He learned that nothing lasts forever, and sacrifices had to be made for things to succeed.

"I'm going to scout around, maybe I can see where it went and if anything is near we need to worry about." Abram said to Jason and Leo, but refused to look at Leo. He threw his backpack on the ground and only carried his bow, quiver, and dual swords.

"I'll go with you." Jason said throwing his things down next to Abram's. "We won't go far Leo. If you need us just yell."

"Got it, I'll just start working on building a place to sleep tonight." Leo responded as he dragged a sheet of the magic metal away from the other ones and examined it.

Abram had already walked off making Jason jog to catch up to him. "Don't think he's heartless or anything." He told Abram when he caught up to him.

"It's not that. It's just being back there, I reminds me of how useless I was. How I only managed to save myself and put you guys in so much danger. Not to mention I only saved myself from one attack. If it wasn't for you protecting us while Leo dragged me away . . ." His voice faltered. "If I only didn't freeze when I saw the fire. I should've been able to do something. I should've been able to help, to protect her-"

"Her?" Jason asked interrupting him.

"Uh, nothing, never mind." Abram squeaked back. Jason felt like Abram was hiding something, but he didn't want to push him if he wasn't ready to talk about it. Jason could only guess it had something to do with fire. The way Abram jumped when Leo summoned fire, even though Abram asked him to do it, or how acts like he is opening up to Leo, but quickly distances himself as if Leo was a bomb just waiting to go off. Jason couldn't really blame him about the hydra incident, especially if that was the first major monster he had seen. They kept a distance of ten minutes of walking time from their scouting position and Leo. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, besides the usually sounds of nothingness. They wondered around looking for any clues. They found some tracks in the mud, but they didn't belong to the Hydra. They were a lot smaller and looked as if was walking on stilts through the forest dragging something heavy.

"Any idea what these are?" Jason asked Abram.

"Not a clue, but there are definitely more the one set of tracks here." Abram replied with a pained look, as if he knew what made them but was struggling to remember. They decided it would be best not to stay in one place for too long. They continued to walk in silence for what Jason would guess would have been two hours.

"What do you make of the prophecy?" Abram asked him finally breaking the silence.

"Well besides the obvious parts, like you and Leo?" Jason said. He looked about Abram who was now blushing hard. "I'm not too sure about the second line. I'm pretty sure the first line is saying you and Leo are going to be the best of friends or something, and the last two lines are about fighting the Hydra, and preventing any other campers from dying from its attack."

"Yeah, that is pretty much what I came up with, but the second line. Make the gods over think. Which gods, and why would it make them over think?" Abram asked,

"You got me, but usually when gods over react. It never means a happy end for us _heroes_." Jason replied.

"Thanks . . ." Abram muttered.

"Cheer up, I've came face to face with some gods. I'm pretty sure you could take the on or convince them it's nothing." Jason chuckled.

"Thanks." Abram said a little more sincere. "C'mon it's getting late. We should get back to Leo."

They made their way back to camp traveling opposite of the sinking sun. They continued to head west finding the camp with a little bit of difficulty from the retreating light.

"Stop!" Abram ordered Jason. "Listen." Jason held his breath and concentrated on any sound he could hear. In the distance the sound of faint scratching echoed off the hills. It sounded more like a giant crab scuttling around on the sand at a beach.

"I don't get it? A giant crab?" Jason asked very confused.

"Oh gods, please no." Abram whispered. Jason turned towards him. His eyes now wide open he looked was very pale. Jason was worried he was going to faint again, but his thought were interrupted.

"HEY NO! . . . GIVE THAT BACK!" Someone yelled in the distance.

Before Jason could even realize who it was Abram was running off, bow ready with three arrows notched.

"We've have to hurry." Abram yelled back to Jason. "Leo's in trouble!" Jason sprinted like his life depended on it. He finally caught up to Abram who was standing on a hill shooting arrows into the valley below them.

"What are those things?" Jason asked looking down below. He could feel voice tremble in fear for his best friend's safety.

"Mrymekes." Abram muttered. "Ancient Greek for ants, but as you can see. . . they're not like normal ants."

"Yeah no kidding." Jason said in disbelief. His eyes were still trying to register what he was seeing. The mrymekes were the size of German shepherds. Their armored shells glistened blood-red. Their eyes were beady black and their razor-sharp mandibles sliced and snapped. Twenty of them surrounded the camp and were advancing onto Leo, who was using a sledge hammer for a weapon. A powerful weapon, but a slow one with Leo's body type. Jason could see his strikes becoming increasingly slower after each swing. His body was getting tired fast, and soon he wouldn't have the strength to get away if he needed to. A group of five mrymekes were flanking Leo from behind, while his attention was centered on two trying to drag a sheet of their celestial bronze away. Luckily, Abram noticed, quickly took aim, and let fly a volley of arrows aimed towards the five advancing. Most of them bounced off the mrymekes' carapace, but some found the chinks in their armor and imbedded themselves deep. Some of the mrymekes let out a hissing sound before exploding into a clouds of dust. Apparently, some of the hits were deadly, but most just seem to wound the beats or make them angry. Abram pulled Jason behind a tree to avoid being seen by the ants.

"We have to get down there." Jason said readying his weapon and peaking from behind the tree. A blood curdling scram echoed off the hills. A mrymeke had gotten close to Leo and bit him on his leg making him crumple to the ground. Jason watched in horror as a second ant sprayed goo in his face. Leo was too weak to scream, but he madly clawed at his face trying to get the substance off.

"LEO!" Jason scream.

"Jason, No." Abram hissed grabbing his arm and pulling back."We can't afford to give ourselves away."

A group of seven of the remaining mrymekes surrounded Leo, picked him up, and started walking into the forest.

"Why did you stop me! How could you just let them take him away. They're going to kill him." Jason exclaimed.

"They won't kill him right away. We've got about half an hour." Abram replied while counting his remaining arrows in his quiver.

"How do you know that?" Jason asked.

"Annabeth. She read about them and told me details about the last time she fought those things. She said they destroyed their anthill though, with the bronze dragon. Y'know, the ones y'all took on your quest. Some must have survived somehow and started building a new one."

"A dragon?" Jason asked with confusion in his voice.

"No! Another anthill idiot." Abram barked. "Now c'mon, before they get too far."

They swiftly ran down the hill and followed the direction the mrymekes went, quickly stopping by their backpacks. Jason grabbed a few supplies, while Abram grabbed his whole pack.


	6. VI Jason

***Important*I am changing the date of chapter updates to Fridays Now!**

**Well, here is the next chapter! Enjoy! Please send in any feedback or comments. They are greatly appreciated as they will help me with my writing!**

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VI

**Jason**

** Jason hated feeling useless**, but Abram was probably right. If he had given away their position, the mrymekes would have probably killed Leo on the spot. This way, they still had a chance to save him, and it was a good thing Abram was a son of Apollo. Zeus knows they are going to need his healing skills. They followed the mrymekes for about thirty minutes without stopping. Under normal circumstances Jason would have been winded, but his best friend's life was in danger. His adrenaline was rushing through his body and he would have kept running into the clearing if Abram didn't stop him. He pointed towards a hill to the left just overlooking the clearing. Jason understood what he meant. They made their way to the top of the hill and settled at its peak.

"We need to choose a plan of attack." Abram huffed falling to his knees.

"You okay?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. It's Leo we need to worry about."

"Understatement." Jason muttered

"We can either go in full assault and hope we make it out alive, or we can try to come up with a foolproof plan."

"I don't think we have time for that, look." He told Abram. Down in the clearing about one hundred yards away was a three-story pile of dirt. Its sides were covered with tunnels. Crawling in and out were hundreds of mrymekes. "That must be the new anthill."

"It looks just how Annabeth described the last one, well not as tall and not as many mrymekes, but the tunnels coming out of the sides." Abram said in awe. "Shit, We can't let them take Leo any closer, if they do . . . we might not ever get him back." His voice started to crack at the end of his sentence.

"You've only hung out with him for a day, imagine how I feel right now." Jason said rubbing the sweat off his brow. "How are we going to do this?"

"Well, I can try to pick some off while you flank them. When they focus on you I can keep giving you cover fire."

"Better than anything I can come up with." Jason replied. "What about Leo?"

"I'll start with the ones carrying him, but I would have to hit all of them at the same time to prevent him from any, well any more danger."

"You got this, I don't know a better archer at this camp."

"Almighty Apollo." Abram muttered. "Seven targets, seven arrows at one time from this distance. That's pushing it, even with my abilities." His voice was riddled with self-doubt.

"Hey, I believe in you, and I am more than sure Leo believes in you too," Jason told him with a reassuring nod. "And he needs us right now. You can do this."

Abram let out a sigh. "Let's do it then."

Jason didn't waste any time. He carefully, but quickly made his way down the hill trying to avoid drawing any attention. He decided to flank the ants from their right side. He hid behind a tree, his Gladius ready in his hand, and looked up to where Abram was standing. _All right_ _Abram, you got this._ Jason thought to himself. He turned his attention back to the group of moving mrymekes. Screeching came from the group of ants before a cloud of dust sent them in a confused frenzy. Jason was able to hear the loud thud of Leo hitting the ground over the confused beasts, hiss cue to attack.

He rushed in and leaped into the group of mrymekes. He swung his Gladius and lobbed off one of their heads on the first strike. _Nine. Nine left._ Jason thought to himself. He struck another one but his sword clanged of off its armor-like body. A mrymeke charged towards Jason snapping its pincers. He quickly deflected the attack with the flat of his sword, but it kept coming back, trying to bite him. He managed to lock its pincers with his Gladius, but now he was defenseless against the other eight ants charging him. He had to concentrate on keeping his grip on his sword. The mrymeke jerked back trying to disarm him. Jason hoped it wasn't smart enough to know a strategy like that. It shuddered to a stop before turning to a cloud of dust. Jason looked to see Abram running down the hill firing arrows like a mad man. The next three ants closest to Jason evaporated when an arrow pierced their bodies.

"Jason Watch it, they can spit acid too!" Abram yelled. The remain mrymekes looked at each other as if saying: _did you forget about that too?_ Three of the ants shot a spray of a green liquid towards Jason, but he was able to dodge roll out of the way. The liquid splattered onto a tree behind where he was standing. The tree started to steam, then sizzle as the bark melted away. "Lighting, Jason! Annabeth said the dragon released a static shock that killed them!.

"Now you tell me!" Jason yelled back. Jason tried to concentrate. He thought about how he needed to save his friends and how angry he had been when the mrymekes attacked Leo. He pointed his sword to the nearest of the remaining five ants. The familiar smell of ozone filled the air. A blue light arched out of the tip of his Gladius striking the ant. The electricity was driven to its feelers like miniature lighting rods. The ant glowed blue for a split second before the energy shot out of its body heading for the next one. The same thing happened to it like the first but it moved faster as if using the second one as a stepping stone to get to the others. Soon the remaining ants were connect by the chain lighting. Their bodies shook violently and flickered blue. It looked as if someone had put a strobe light on them on the fast setting. Soon, there was nothing left but five piles of ash. Jason collapsed to his knees and struggled to catch his breath. _C'mon! We're not done yet._ He told himself as he struggled onto his feet. He slowly stumbled towards Abram, who was by Leo's side singing a hymn to his father in Ancient Greek.

"R-Remind me to bu-build a giant magnifying glass later." Leo whispered before losing consciousness.

"Is he going to be alright?" Jason asked him. His voice was full of panic and he was now using his Gladius as a cane to keep him from falling over.

"It's too soon to tell." Abram replied. "From just one bite I would say yes, but he was bit multiple times." Abram motioned Jason closer to see the damage. As he got closer, Jason could see right away that Leo had two welts on each of his arms that didn't look pretty. They were starting to get darker in color, well Jason thought they were. It was hard to see through the blood. Abram pulled Leo's right jean leg up to show Jason the damage done to his leg. Jason wished he didn't. On Leo's calf and ankle where four more welts.

"He was bit twice on both legs?"

"Pretty much," Abram muttered. "those are only from two bite wounds, but he has some exactly like them on his other leg. In total, his body was bit six times. Good thing we attacked when we did, any longer and Leo would be in worse shape. I mean it's still really bad and I don't think he will be conscious again until we can treat him properly." His voice started to crack, and Jason could see tears forming in his eyes. "I have to try something, it might help a little." Abram position his hand above Leo's torso and closed his eyes. Beads of sweat formed on Abram's face as his hands started to glow a faint gold. The light spread downward and covered Leo's wounds. He started to sing again. The light seemed to fill the wounds up like if it was some sort of medical jelly. Slowly they closed and began to return to their original color.

"Whoa, your healing abilities are amazing." Jason said in awe.

"It's just a little field patchwork." He replied chocking back a sob. "I'll need m-more time to get him fully healed without ambrosia or nectar." Abram replied struggling to get the words out.

Jason heard a faint scuffling sound. He looked up and realized Abram's light didn't go unnoticed. The mrymekes had seen it and were on their way to investigate it. At least thirty more. "Yeah, we don't have time right now." Jason said. "More are on their way, we need to leave now!"

"Here, take my stuff. I can carry Leo back to camp." Abram said.

"Are you sure? It looks like that healing took a lot out of you, and the sun has already set."

"I'll be fine. I can handle it." Jason grabbed Abram's backpack and swung it over his shoulder. He then took his quiver and bow in his left hand. "Leo, you are going to be fine." Abram whispered to him as picked up Leo stood up to his feet. He was holding Leo bridal style. "Quick, before they get any closer!" They started running away from the clearing, but had trouble making their way through the forest. With the sun being fully set now, they had almost no light to give them vision. On more than one occasion, Abram had tripped over a log, or a rock and almost dropped Leo. He would fall to his knees then just get right back up and kept running. The moon was now fully in the sky, and the forest noise died down. Every so often they would hear howls of a wolf pack somewhere around them. Jason really hoped they wouldn't come face to face with one. Their team was nowhere near fighting condition. Leo was incapacitated, and both Abram and Jason were exhausted from the running and using their powers earlier. Up ahead he saw a flickering light in the distance.

"There! Let's head over there." Jason ordered. They keep running and dodging trees that seemed to be popping up from the darkness. As they got closer to the light, Jason noticed it wasn't just one light, but multiple lights set up in a circle around something. The forest was coming to a familiar clearing. They finally made it back to their campsite. He discovered that the lights were actually several torches that bordered the lake. Something Leo must have set up before the ants attacked him. Abram rushed towards one of the torches and placed Leo on the floor.

"Jason, get some ambrosia for me and Leo." Abram said as sat on his knees next to Leo. Jason quickly put down everything he was carrying and searched for their emergency medical supplies. He pulled a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia from a red pack and rushed to Abram's side.

"Break off two pieces, one for me and one for him." Abram told him. "When I start healing him again wait for the right time to put one in my mouth." Jason nodded and broke off a piece of the healing food. Abram had positioned his hand to where they were hovering over Leo's torso like he did the last time. His hands started to glow gold as he sung a hymn to his father. The healing process went exactly as he preformed it earlier. He stopped singing and held his mouth open. Jason took this as the right time and quickly placed the piece of ambrosia in it. Abram chewed and swallowed it before he started healing Leo again. He held his stance for almost three times as long as he did before. The glow faded and Abram fell onto his back from exhaustion.

"Whoa, c'mon you can't seriously leave me the only one conscious tonight." Jason said now worried about Abram.

"I'll. . .be. . .fine." Abram huffed out.

Jason heard a faint noise coming from the forest. "They couldn't have followed us all the way here could they?" He asked in disbelief.

"Well . . . we did just take their food," Abram replied looking towards Leo.

Leo started to stir which grabbed Jason's attention. "C'mon buddy, wake up." Jason said as he slapped Leo's face lightly. Leo's eyes fluttered open and he slowly sat up with groan.

"Ugh, and I thought my _**Ant**_ics were bad, now give me a hand" Leo croaked as he struggled to get to his feet. The worry in Jason's face vanished before he slapped Leo harder across his face. "Ow bitch! I didn't mean it like that!"

"You'll live, here." Jason replied giving him the piece of ambrosia.

"Thanks." Leo muttered rubbing his face where Jason smacked him before popping the food in his mouth. For a brief second everything was back to being peaceful. They were all back together safe and sound, more or less.

"If things keep up like this, we're going to run out of ambrosia before we find the hydra." Abram said weakly still laying on his back on the floor.

"You're the one using most of it." Leo said getting up to his feet.

"Well everyone is depending on my healing abilities."

"You have been hurt more than the rest of us so far."

"Pfft, whatever." Abram said sitting up. "I think I want to sleep now."

"Dude, you look worse than I do." Leo said.

"There's no sun. Downside to being a child of Apollo, we're weaker at night."

"Well good thing we are here to pick up your slack. Right Jas?" Leo asked looking at him.

Jason didn't say anything, instead his eyes widened. The noise he heard definitely was growing louder. The mrymekes had followed them to their camp. "Guys, they're back." Jason warned.

"Quick, someone help me with this." Leo said running to the sheet of metal the ants wanted to take but dropped before taking Leo instead.

"I'll help him, Jason cover us if they get close!" Abram yelled with new found energy. Jason ran to where he thought the noise was coming from. He stopped just outside the range of the torchlight. He wanted to keep some breathing room between him and the incoming threat. From the forest emerged three mrymekes, which must have made up the scouting party. There were small compared to the others that Jason had killed, but when Jason's sword arm twitched they moved with such speed that whatever safe space Jason wanted to have between them was nowhere near enough. In seconds Jason has clashing with the first attacking ant. It snapped at his leg with its razor-sharp pincers, but hit nothing but air. "_Way_ to close." Jason muttered trying to regain his balance. He jumped back as fast as he could and tried to deflect the flurry of oncoming attacks from the ant. "Guys, whatever you are doing hurry up!" He yelled to the others as he rolled to the side to dodge the second mrymeke lunging at him. Behind him, he could hear grunts from Abram and Jason struggling with something.

"Almost done bro!" He heard Leo yell at him. "Just keep them busy, you're doing a great jo- No Abram, that doesn't go there!"

Jason readied his weapon as the ant that first attacked him, came closer to him at an alarming speed. Jason swung his sword letting his ADHD take control over his body as it usually did in battle. He felt something resist against his blade, but only for a moment. He heard a thud of something hitting the floor before he realized he had gotten in a lucky shot that lobbed off the ant's head. He didn't have any time to miss a beat, the remaining two mrymekes charged after seeing their leader killed. Jason planted his feet down, ready to slash one and jump over the other, but before he could even get the chance, the ant on his right-side got hit by a flying ball of flame. The ant screeched in pain before disintegrating into a pile of ash (who knew ants were flammable.). At the same time, a pillar of light shot from under the ant on his left. The light was blinding to say the least. Jason had put his left arm in front of his face to stop himself from going blind. He didn't see what happened to the ant, but he lowered his arm after the light was over and it was no longer standing where it used to be.

"Great now let me just finish . . .installing this door." Leo said slowly as he concentrated on his work.

"A door? You had me face those things alone for a door?" Jason questioned in disbelief as he walked back to the nearly complete cabin.

"A door?" Leo scoffed. "Not just _any_ door, _THE_ door. The door that is going to save and protect all our asses! Not only that, but it's going to be fully automatic. With sensors that will open it when you get near, and it will give that blast of cool air like at all the stores do on a hot summer day. Oh and-"

"The point is," Abram interpreted him. "Leo said that the sheets of the celestial bronze are actually enchanted. When they form an enclosure of any kind, they set up a magical barrier to protect it."

"The cabin is finally going to be complete. Well, until we add all the other rooms." Leo added.

"I could've died fighting those three super fast bugs." Jason muttered

"You gave it your best shot." Leo shrugged as his hand burst into flames. He held the right sliding door open and welded its connection base in place with his white-hot flames. "And . . . done." He stepped back away from the house as the left side of the door shot closed and met with its right side. A force shot out from the walls of the cabin. It felt like built up air pressure rushing to be released. The flames on the torches started to sway as if someone had ran by them. The surface of the lake rippled away from the shore. The smell of the air, had a different scent. The newly formed barrier enhanced the smell of the water from the lake, it made the air feel lighter and less depressing, and it didn't feel as if someone was watching you from behind the trees anymore.

"Wow," Jason muttered. "It feels safer than before."

"That's because it is." Leo replied with a grin. "Just look over there." Leo pointed to where the three scout mrymekes had emerged from the forest. Now standing at the edge of the clearing were their reinforcements. A group of ten confused giant ants.

"Why are they just standing there?" Abram asked with his bow drawn with an arrow notched.

"The barrier bro," Leo said. "It prevents hostiles from seeing inside of it. It masks our presence as well."

"So, they don't know that our camp is here?" Jason asked.

"Nope, I'm pretty sure they're confused because our trail of scent ends right there." Leo answered and pointed to where the barrier line was. The giant ants were using their feelers, touching the ground , each other, and the barrier. Each time a feeler would hit the barrier it became visible. It looked like if someone was pushing down on shrink-wrap.

"Well, then." Abram said as he lowered his bow and put the arrow back into his quiver. "Now what do we do?"

"I guess just get ready for bed. Tomorrow we can go looking for any clues on the Hydra's whereabouts." Jason said. He was still staring at the mrymekes. Something made him uneasy about the barrier. He shrugged it off for now, but something told him it was too easy. It was only a matter of time until that barrier would break.

"Don't worry man," Leo said patting him on the shoulder. "It'll hold. It's a lot stronger then you think."

"How do you do that?" Jason asked turning towards Leo.

"Do what?" Leo replied with a really confused look.

"How do you know what I'm think most of the time."

"Oh, well because I know you bro. Now come check out what I built when you guys were gone." Leo lead them back towards the house. Jason was amazed Leo could build this in a day. Looking at it from the outside, it was only big enough for one room, but since it's the first night Jason thought it was more than enough. The whole cabin had a rustic look(like there was any other way he could have designed it.). The steps leading to the front door where cobblestone with wooden rails on both side. two torches were mounted on both sides of the door to light up the front porch with the help of the reflective surface of the celestial bronze. Leo must have used his powers and heated up the sand from the far side of the lake to make the windows. A cobble stone smokestack was located on the backside of the cabin. The outside looked finished, but Jason knew Leo had a lot more planned. They approached the front doors which slid open when they got near. The inside was a little bare compared to the outside, but Jason didn't really expect furniture to be made just yet. In the middle of the room, Leo had setup the extra blankets and pillows they brought on the floor. The blankets were thick enough that Jason didn't need to think twice about getting hurt before jumping on the makeshift bed. The pillows were set up so that their heads would be against the cobblestone fireplace ,which was already lit courtesy of Leo, when they slept. They placed their backpacks on the opposite side of the fireplace.

"Abram what are you doing?" Leo asked before doing a wolf whistle making Jason turn around in time to see Abram standing in only a pair of green boxers.

"I don't know how you guys sleep, but I like my onesie." Abram replied. Jason could see his face was a deep shade of red as he walked by the bed to grab his pack.

"Nothing wrong with that." Jason said to try to put a lid on his embarrassment.

"Is it that comfortable?" Leo asked.

"It is." Abram snapped as he slipped his feet in the leg holes, pulled the top over his shoulders, and pulled up the zipper. The loud zipping echoed throughout one roomed cabin.

"Maybe . . . _I_ should try them on." Leo said with a sly smile as he started creeping towards Abram.

"Over my dead body!" Abram barked. Jason couldn't help but laugh. Leo had almost died just moments ago, and Abram has passed out of exhaustion almost every hour since they first entered the forest as a group, but here they were acting like they were having a sleep over at one of their parents cabin in the mountains. "Besides, we've only been hanging out for one day and you already want to get me out of my clothes?"

"Uhh, no. Of course not." Leo muttered. He was good at hiding his embarrassment, that is until his hair caught fire. Leo started swatting his hair muttering curses under his breath. Abram and Jason couldn't help but to burst out laughing.

"And there is another reason why I wouldn't let you wear it." Abram managed t get out between laughs.

"Because I might burn it? Why are you so protective of it?" Leo questioned. His hair was smoldering and spots around his collar on his T-shirt were singed.

"Well, if you must know. My mom bought it for me before she. . . before I came here." Abram said. Jason could see his eyes becoming glossy.

"Shouldn't it be smaller then?" Leo asked him.

"Yeah it should be. It used to be three times as small as this, but you know, Aphrodite Cabin is full of people that know fashion and things like that. I asked some to enlarge it as I grew older."

"And why does it have cat hair on it?" Jason asked.

"Oh, it's from Gabriel."

"Who?" Leo asked.

"Gabriel the cat? The one that roams around camp?" Jason and Leo shared a look of confusion before turning back to Abram and shaking their heads. "Well, he has been here for as long as I can remember, and some say longer than one hundred years."

"Wait a minute!" Leo yelled. "How can a cat be that old?"

"They can't, but ever since I got to camp, I don't really question things anymore. In the life of a demigod, you see some things that would shake up a normal mortal."

"I guess you're right." Leo agreed.

"Alright guys, let's head off to sleep." Jason said as he laid back down. "We got some big days ahead of us. We need to save an entire camp in two months max."

"I say we do it in less time." Abram added as he took the spot in the middle of the bed. "That way Leo can have more time to work on The Argo II."

"Agreed." Leo said as he flopped down next to Abram.

"The time limit doesn't matter," Jason said. "but we need to be rested. We barely survived our first day. Not looking forward to what lies ahead."


End file.
